Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“DiNozzo! Captain wants to see you,” said Officer Bauer, as he looked up from his desk.

Just returning from his beat, Tony rolled his eyes at Bauer, then flashed a smile as he walked through the squad room. He didn’t want any of his fellow officers to pick up on his nervousness. Internally, he wondered what he’d done now. Being called to the captain’s office was akin to being summoned to the principal’s office when he was in school. He’d had plenty of experience with both and it usually wasn’t a sign of anything good.

The door was standing wide open as Tony approached and tapped it lightly. “You wanted to see me, Captain?”

“Yeah, DiNozzo. Shut the door and have a seat.”

Turning around sharply, Tony swallowed hard and gently pushed the door closed. Before facing the captain, he composed his expression. It was a skill he acquired at boarding school; wearing a mask so no one ever knew what he was truly thinking or feeling. With his ‘happy officer’ mask firmly in place, he turned to face the captain, smiled and took a seat.

“Joe Anderson will be retiring at the end of the month,” the captain began.

“Good for him!” Tony said enthusiastically. He quietly hoped he wasn’t going to be given the task of arranging the retirement party. While he was perfectly fine gathering together a group of officers for drinks at the local bar, he really didn’t want to have to deal with a full retirement party that included food, gifts and speeches.

The captain pulled out a file and opened it. “I see you have experience riding horses.”

“Yes, sir. It’s like I was born in the saddle,” he boasted enthusiastically.

“Excellent! With Joe retiring, we have an opening with the mounted police department. You’re the only officer we currently have with any horseback riding experience, so we’ll be moving you over to that division.”

“The mounted police, sir?” Tony was disappointed. It was his dream to become a full-fledged detective, not Dudley Do-Right.

“You’ll do great, DiNozzo. Mounted patrol is mostly PR. Smile, be nice to the kids, that sort of thing. Like an ambassador for the police force. You’ll get to ride in parades and maybe even chase down a perp or two on horseback. Plan on wrapping up your open cases and we’ll get you moved over there. I’d like you to spend some time with Officer Anderson before he retires.”

“Looking forward to it, sir!” His heart was sinking. Had any of the mounted officers ever been promoted to detective? How would he get the case experiences he needed under his belt if he was playing PR cop instead of closing cases? Would he get fired if the horse dumped him off and ran away?

“Starting tomorrow, I want you to take the Monday through Friday day shift, so you can work Joe’s hours for now. After you work with Joe a few times, they may move you to whatever shift they need you on.”

“Thank you, sir.” It wouldn’t be so bad, he reasoned. He was already currently on day rotations, but this meant he would have the weekend off, which was fine with him. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a weekend off while on regular rotation.

On being dismissed, Tony returned to his desk and sorted through his open cases. The captain asked him to pass along anything he didn’t think he could wrap up in the next couple of days. However, Tony had more to worry about than that. In truth, he had learned to ride at summer camp as a teenager, but that had been years ago. It never occurred to him that they’d actually expect him to ride a horse on duty. At the time he was filling out the application, he simply thought adding in horseback riding experience would make him appear well rounded and athletic.

At the end of the shift, a couple of Tony’s fellow officers asked if he’d like to join them at the local pub for a few beers and games of pool or darts. They were surprised when he declined, but he had something else on his mind.

Although he forewent his afternoon run, he did change out of his uniform before heading to his car. As soon as he closed the door, he began searching for the nearest stable on his cell phone and was glad to see there was one that wasn’t too far away. He quickly dialed the number and asked if he could stop by to discuss taking lessons. So far, so good.

The rates seemed reasonable, especially if he paid for several lessons in advance. The bank wasn’t too far out of the way, so he stopped and withdrew some cash.

It still took him around half an hour to get to the stables, but that was still relatively close to the city. He was surprised to see so many cars outside the barn. While he hated driving his Corvette on the gravel parking lot, this was practically an emergency. He had to be up to snuff before they sent him to train with Joe. The retiring officer had spent over twenty-five years with the mounted unit and Tony didn’t want to completely embarrass himself. Joe would know in an instant that Tony had lied if he couldn’t even mount a horse properly. He needed some intense lessons, and now.

A woman soon emerged from the barn to greet him. “You must be Tony?” she asked, her voice joyful and melodious. “Hello, I’m Lucy Hayward, the owner of Briarwood Stables.”

Tony eyed her, sizing her up in an instant: trophy wife. She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever met, with a fantastic figure, blue eyes and long blonde hair. She was wearing her hair pulled back in a ponytail and was dressed in riding boots, breeches and a collarless, sleeveless shirt. He noticed the expensive diamond ring on her finger next to the golden wedding band. She probably came from money, having that look about her. Taking her proffered hand, he shook it firmly. “Yes, Tony DiNozzo. It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”

“Please, everyone calls me Lucy.”

“Lucy, of course. Everyone calls me Tony. Thank you for meeting with me. I really need to get up to speed on riding immediately.”

“We do offer both group and private lessons.”

“Can I arrange for daily private lessons for a couple of weeks? I need to know everything from grooming and saddling up to advanced riding skills. Is that possible?”

Her expression changed to one of surprise and confusion. “In a couple of weeks? Tony, people spend years learning how to ride and developing their skills. Take it slow, get a good foundation.”

Tony had to think fast. He really didn’t want to confess to being a cop. That seemed to make a lot of people nervous and he couldn’t risk her refusal to help him. “Um, it’s my boss. You see, his family has this huge horse farm in Kentucky and his daughter is getting married soon. They’re doing everything on horseback and he’s counting on me to play a big part of that. I need to be able to help get horses ready and make sure the other guests are safe around them. I really need some help. Please?”

“Do you have any experience with horses?”

“Yeah, a little bit. I rode at summer camp as a teenager. I really just need some refresher training and to make sure I’m doing everything correctly.”

“So you have cantered and jumped before?”

Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, he thought back. Well, he did remember jumping over a log that had fallen across the trail back at summer camp. “Yes, of course. I’ve done lots of cantering and jumping, but it was over a decade ago. I’m sure I’m a bit rusty.”

She nodded slowly. “And when would you like to start your lessons?”

“Today? Now? I have cash, if that’s okay, or I can pay with a check or credit card. Whatever works best for you, really.”

“I’ll need to get some information from you. Please, let’s go over to my office to get the paperwork completed.”

Tony followed her to a small building next to the barn. Stepping inside he noticed the first room was a large lobby with several chairs, a few bookshelves filled with books, a magazine rack, a couple of tables, multiple monitors and a children’s corner. All of the current occupants were girls, mothers or children under the age of five.

“We want everyone to feel comfortable here. The parents and siblings can watch lessons from inside, away from the dust and the weather,” Lucy explained.

They also walked by a couple of bathrooms, a small kitchenette and finally arrived at her office in the back of the building. Tony took notice that she kept the door locked. As soon as they went inside, he saw it was full of photos, trophies and ribbons. Lucy took a seat behind her desk and motioned to the chair on the other side. Pulling out a packet, she pushed it toward Tony. “Just fill that out. It’s all standard stuff.”

Tony scanned down the sheet. While it didn’t ask his specific age, it did ask if he was over eighteen. Check. Next was a question if he would be training on his own horse, or theirs. Theirs, of course. It also asked for his riding experience. He scribbled down the times he spent riding at summer camp, only slightly embellished, and the pony rides his mother had arranged for him before she had died. There was also a section about horses having a mind of their own, safety gear being required, and that he would not hold the stables responsible for any injury or death.

“Anyone ever die here?” he asked half-jokingly.

“No, but our attorneys drew up the contract and insisted on that verbiage being included. We are very safety-conscious here, of course. Everyone needs to be properly geared up. We maintain our property and saddlery to specific safety standards. We are also very careful about the horses we choose for lessons. Unless you have your own horse, of course.”

He eyed his boots and wondered if they were good enough to ride in. But would that ruin them? “What sort of safety gear do I need to get started?”

“We do require proper riding boots with a heel. They also need to be tall enough they won’t get stuck in the stirrups in the event that you do fall. A safety helmet is required. Once you start jumping, we do recommend a safety vest. That will protect your spine and tailbone in case you fall.”

“But that’s not required?” Tony asked.

“The boots and helmet are required, but not the vest, unless you start jumping over three feet. The higher you jump, the more likely there could be a fall and the chances of injury increase.”

“Even for experienced riders?”

“Yes. The ground can be muddy, the horse could slip, bolt or refuse. Even the most experienced rider could fall under certain circumstances.”

Tony finished filling out the paperwork, then pushed a stack of cash over to her. “Can we still begin today, or will I need a helmet first?”

Lucy locked the cash into a bank bag and placed it into a locked drop box next to her desk. “We do sell gear here if you would like to take a look at what we have. We carry both new and used gear at a reasonable price. However, you are welcome to purchase the items wherever you would like.”

“I’d love to see what you have,” he said.

“Do you know what sort of horses your boss’ family owns?” she asked as they left her office and walked to a different building.

Thinking back, Tony tried to remember what the mounted police division’s horses looked like from the photos scattered around the police station. “Big. Really big,” he began. Then he remembered something his boss had mentioned. “They run a bunch of carriages, so most of the horses are trained to pull carriages.” His boss had mentioned most of the police horses had once pulled carriages and were used to the noise and crowds of the city.

The separate building was much smaller and also locked up. As if she was reading his thoughts of what hours they kept the store open, Lucy said, “We open the shop whenever someone asks. Anytime you need anything, just say the word.”

The store was divided into different sections. There were saddles, bridles and similar gear at one end of the store. Another section was full of clothing. A smaller section had books and gifts. “Like other stores, we do most of our business around the holidays. Parents are glad that we offer horse-related gifts for their horse-crazy daughters,” she said with a smile.

“Not many boys ride?”

“Like dancing, there are always more girls here than boys, but we do have a few males learning to ride here, and some male horse owners. We keep tack on hand in case someone breaks a lead line and needs another right away. Much of what we sell is used. We only sell things that are in good shape and used gear is a lot less expensive than brand new.”

Tony nodded his agreement and could imagine Lucy’s students and boarders would be eager to sell their gear if they decided to get rid of their horse or cancel their lessons. He scanned over the items offered and noticed the different shirts and pants. “Do I need that stuff to ride?”

“It depends on how far you want to go. You can ride in a T-shirt as long as you don’t intend to show. You won’t want to ride with anything that is too tight as it could rip or restrict your movement, or anything that is too loose that might flap around, like a collar on a shirt or coat.”

“I did notice all of your shirts are collarless. Would a collar spook the horses?”

“No, but it’s the same principle as if you are riding a motorcycle. Anything loose could start flapping against your face or neck and it could be annoying or distracting.”

“Understandable.”

“You can ride in jeans or slacks if you want, but breeches are specifically made for riding, so they don’t have seams in uncomfortable places, plus they stretch and have leather reinforcement where your knees contact the saddle. If you get to an advanced level I recommend wearing breeches as you have better contact. They’ll last you a lot longer than slacks and will be more comfortable than slacks or jeans. I have a great used pair of leather boots here that look like they’ll fit you.”

Tony agreed to try them on and they did fit perfectly. They also nearly reached his knees. As they were similar to those worn by the mounted officers, he agreed to purchase them. He also bought a new riding helmet. Lucy had noted they did not sell used helmets as they couldn’t be sure if they were internally damaged or not.

“We do have a few schooling helmets available in case someone forgets theirs, but those are only used in our lessons and our instructors would know if someone fell and damaged one. It would then be removed from service immediately.”

Lucy took the time to adjust the helmet for him so it fit perfectly. She smelled nice and had a gentle demeanor. If she wasn’t married, Tony thought he’d like to ask her out and get to know her a little better.

Although he considered a pair of breeches, Tony decided to wait and see how he felt riding in jeans. He knew the mounted officers had their own uniforms to wear, so he wouldn’t be using a pair of breeches once he finished his lessons.

Standing in front of the mirror, he admired himself in his new helmet and riding boots. “Pretty sharp, if I may say so myself.” Lucy smiled and moved over to the register. Tony used a credit card for the purchases, then asked, “So I can start my lessons today?”

Before responding, she checked her watch. “Yes, we can do that. This will be an assessment lesson rather than an actual training lesson. Since you’ve opted for private lessons, I need to assess your skills so I can decide the best instructor and horses for you.”

“Sure. Lead the way.”

After locking up the shop, Lucy led the way to the barn and looked into a few stalls as they passed by. Stopping in front of one stall, she opened the door and asked Tony, “Are your boss’ horses big like this guy?”

Tony peered in and found a large bay with a white face staring back at him. “Yeah, about like that.”

Outside the stall, Lucy grabbed the halter and lead line that was on a hook next to a name plaque that said, ‘Morey’. “He’s part Clydesdale and part Thoroughbred. He’s athletic and strong. When you mentioned big carriage horses, I thought you may be talking about draft breeds.”

Tony followed as Lucy led Morey out of the stall, and clipped him to a set of cross ties; lengths of ropes on either side of the aisle that clipped to the horse’s halter to hold him steady while she brushed him. A few minutes later a man with graying hair and stunning blue eyes appeared from around the corner, carrying a saddle, pad and bridle and began saddling the horse up.

“This is Miles,” said Lucy. “Miles, this is Tony, who will be taking some private lessons with us.”

“Nice to meet you,” Tony said as he offered his hand and noticed the man’s slight hesitation.

Once Miles had finished cinching up the saddle, he shook Tony’s hand but didn’t say anything. Lucy walked away first, leaving Tony to trail after Miles as he led Morey.

“Up here,” Miles said flatly.

Tony quickened his step to catch up. “What?”

“You’ll want to walk at the horse’s shoulder,” Miles informed him. “Too far forward, you can’t control him. Too far back, you could get kicked.”

“But I wasn’t leading him.”

After placing the reins in Tony’s hands, Miles smiled. “Doesn’t matter. Horses can spook, rear, kick or take off on you no matter who is leading them.”

“Got it. Stay away from the legs, hooves and hindquarters of any horse.”

They came to a small training ring in the back of the barn. It was covered and dark until Lucy flipped on the overhead lights. Miles helped lead Morey over to the mounting block, then held him steady while Tony mounted up, then he straightened out the reins and placed them into Tony’s hands. While Tony held onto the reins, Miles adjusted the stirrups longer to fit him, physically moving Tony’s legs where he wanted them.

Once Tony was suitable settled, Miles nodded his self-satisfaction, then joined Lucy at the center of the small arena. Lucy had Tony put Morey through his paces, walking, trotting and cantering him. She had Miles move some rails around and had Tony display his ability to rein Morey around obstacles and back him in a straight line.

Although he hadn’t ridden in years, Tony still remembered the basics and found Morey easy to handle and maneuver. While he definitely needed to get used to the saddle again and sharpen his skills, he was confident he could do this.

As he was riding around the arena, Tony took note of Lucy and Miles conversing. They stood close together, most likely discussing Tony’s skills. While he’d wondered for an instant if Miles was her husband, he quickly pushed the thought aside. While Miles was an attractive man, he didn’t have the air of a wealthy man about him. His fingers were also bare of any rings. One thing Tony did notice was the watch Miles wore. It was an Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean watch. It had to have cost at least three grand. Tony knew because he had one himself. Perhaps Miles was the wealthy husband after all.

About thirty minutes after they’d started, Lucy waved him into the center of the arena. “You did fine, Tony. Your skills are a little rusty, but you have the basics down fairly well. I’m going to have Miles work with you.”

Stepping forward, Miles took hold of Morey’s reins as Tony dismounted.

With his feet back on the ground, Tony looked over at Lucy. “I thought you were the riding instructor?” he said nervously. He certainly had felt something tingle when Miles touched his hands while showing him how to hold the reins. When Miles had adjusted Tony’s stirrups and demonstrated where Tony’s legs and heels should be, the man’s touch had gone straight to Tony’s groin. As beautiful as Lucy was, Miles was definitely the one who was stirring up more feelings. Tony wasn’t certain he could concentrate on learning with Miles in charge.

Smiling sweetly, Lucy said, “I focus more on running the stables, training and showing horses. I do the initial assessments and choose an instructor based on availability and skill level of the student. Miles will also teach you how to tack up your horse, groom them and put them away, as you requested.”

“Okay. Good, then.” Tony watched her as she walked away until he heard Miles behind him clearing his throat.

Turning around, Tony flashed his winning smile. “Is Miles your first name or last name?”

Miles handed Morey’s reins to Tony and began walking away, signaling for Tony to follow. “Miles Benton.”

Tony stared at the reins in his hands for a moment, then began leading Morey back to the barn. “You’re not her husband, are you?”

The man laughed easily. “No, I just work here.”

“As a riding instructor. Interesting.”

“I do a bit of carpentry work and I’m good with horses. They needed a handyman who is familiar with horses. I can teach riding, or drive one of their carriages if they’re short a driver.”

“I didn’t realize they had carriages.”

“They run carriages downtown in the touristy area and also rent them out for weddings.”

“And Lucy handles all that as well as the stables?”

“Lucy’s younger brother Ryan runs the carriage business.”

“You must work a lot of hours between the stables and downtown with the carriages.”

“I’m mostly the handyman and I muck out stalls. I’m just a part-time carriage driver when they need one.”

“Right. I noticed your watch. It’s expensive. I have one similar, a gift from my dad.”

Lifting his wrist, Miles looked at the watch. “I didn’t have one. It belonged to Lucy’s husband, but apparently he has two or three dozen other watches and doesn’t wear this one so she gave it to me because it’s waterproof.”

“As long as her husband doesn’t find out, I guess.”

Stopping in his tracks, Miles glared at Tony. “It’s not like that. She’s the one who came from money. Her husband is retired Navy. I served in the Marines. A friend suggested I might find some work here. All Lucy did was to give me a watch her husband doesn’t use so I can keep track of the time. It’s not like she went out and bought it for me.”

“Okay, I didn’t mean anything by it. Lucy seems like a nice lady.”

“She is. Lucy has always loved horses and enjoys sharing that love with others. That’s why she keeps her rates down. She wants to let as many students as possible be able to afford to learn to ride.”

“Yeah, I like the package deal. It made the lessons very affordable.”

“They run day camps in the summer sometimes,” said Miles as they reached the cross ties. He clipped the ties to Morey’s bridle. “Once in a while, Lucy hosts underprivileged city kids out here, just giving them a day to get away from the city and spend some time with the horses.”

“That’s nice.”

“Get over here, Tony. I’ll show you what you need to do to unsaddle him, but you’re going to have to get used to doing this on your own. They charge ten bucks a lesson if you want us to saddle and unsaddle the horse for you.”

“No, I want to learn. I need to know how to do everything myself.”

“Good. It’s easy enough. Just put the stirrups up like this, then lift up this flap and undo the buckles. You can put the saddle over there while you take off his bridle.”

“What if he runs away?” asked Tony.

Reaching out, Miles patted the horse’s neck. “Morey won’t go anywhere. If you’re ever really concerned about a horse, you can bridle and unbridle them in their stall, but most of the lesson horses will stay where they’re put unless they get spooked.”

“Oh, okay.” Following Miles’ instructions, Tony removed the saddle and saddle pad, setting them on a rail to the side of the aisle, then he removed the bridle and put Morey’s halter on him. Tony remembered from summer camp to fasten the halter around the horse’s neck before taking off the bridle.

“Good job. Follow me and I’ll show you where to put everything.”

Tony settled the bridle over his shoulder, picked up the saddle and pad, then followed Miles to the tack room.

“There are two tack rooms,” said Miles. “This one is for the lesson horses. There is another one for the boarders. Each lesson horse has their own saddle and bridle. You can see the names here.”

Tony noticed the names were written on white tape, one over the bridle hook and another one on the saddle rack. “Got it,” he said as he placed the tack back where it belonged.

“Everything is adjusted to fit each horse so it’s important that you grab the correct gear.”

“How many lesson horses are there?”

“About twenty, but sometimes Lucy buys or sells a horse, or retires one.”

“What happens when they’re retired? Are they shipped off to the meatpackers?” Before Tony even realized what he’d said, he felt a light slap to the back of his head. It was a surprising wake-up call that had him suddenly staring deeply into those blue eyes.

“No. Lucy’s parents have a farm further out. She can send horses there if they need a break or when they retire. Her older brother breeds and trains horses out there, along with their two younger sisters.”

“Horses need breaks?”

“Sure. Why not? Lucy rotates them in and out, but they all get to go back to the farm for a few days when she feels they need it. Horses get bored just like people.”

Standing outside the tack room, Miles pointed out the whiteboard hanging on the wall. There were several groups of names listed, each with a time, instructor and ring number at the top, and student names matched with horse names below.

“What’s all this?”

“These are all the lessons. You find your lesson time, assigned riding ring, your instructor, then you’ll find your name on the list along with a horse’s name. You should arrive fifteen to thirty minutes before your lesson, find out which horse you’re riding and get them brushed and saddled.”

“What happens if a student is late? Do you saddle the horse?”

“Nope. If you show up late, you still have to saddle up. It just means less time riding.”

“So I know Morey. What about the other horses? How do I know what stall they’re in?”

“You can ask, or look around. All the names are on the stall doors. Just like in the tack room, you’ll have to look around for the name, or ask someone. You’ll probably ride the same two or three horses most of the time.”

“Morey?”

“It’s up to Lucy. She assigns the horses.”

“Really? I thought she did training and running the barn.”

“She also checks the monitors to see how the students are doing, or sometimes she’ll watch a lesson and make some notes.”

“Sounds like she must work some long hours.”

“She does. She is very involved with every aspect of the stables.”

“I guess I will see you tomorrow, then?”

“Don’t be late,” warned Miles.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Rubbing the back of his head, Tony wondered if being late would result in another head-slap from Miles.

On his way home, Tony thought about Miles. “Former Marine,” he muttered. “Sounds like the perfect guy to get me into riding shape in just a week or two.”

The smile never left his lips and he remembered the electric tingle he felt at the touch of Miles’ hands.

Chapter Text

The following day, Tony worked through his shift, again wrapping up any cases and reports that he could. He also sorted out a few files to pass on to other officers, mostly ongoing concerns and surveillance.

One of the other officers teased him about walking stiffly. Despite knowing it was from riding, Tony hinted that he’d had a rather memorable sexual encounter the night before. It was true that he couldn’t stop thinking about someone. The striking image of Miles’ blue eyes stayed with him all day long and he realized he was looking forward to seeing the man again.

At the end of his shift, he changed out of his uniform and into his jeans. He’d left his boots and riding helmet locked inside his trunk, not wanting to deal with questions from his fellow officers. It wasn’t until he pulled into the lot at the stable that he changed into his tall leather boots, and strapped on his helmet. After locking up his car, he went into the barn, stopping in front of the tack room to search for his name on the board.

There it was, a note on the board listing Miles as his instructor. The horse he had been assigned for the day was Beau. Before he turned around, Miles walked up behind him.

“Ready to get started?” Miles asked, standing so close that Tony could feel the man’s breath on the back of his neck, causing a tingling sensation to run up and down Tony’s spine.

“Yeah. Looks like I’m riding Beau today.”

“Right this way.”

Tony followed Miles down the first aisle and into the next. When they stopped, Tony looked into the stall to find another large horse. This one was black with a white star on his forehead and a single white sock on his left hind leg. “Beau, I presume.”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of horse is he?”

“He’s a Percheron-Thoroughbred mix,” Miles replied.

“He’s a handsome horse.”

“Do you think you can manage to put his halter on, or do I need to show you how?”

“I’m good,” said Tony as he grabbed the halter and lead line from the hook on the front of the stall. Sliding the door to the side, Tony entered the stall slowly, and easily slipped the halter onto the tall horse, then smiled at the accomplishment.

After leading Beau over to the cross ties, Tony clipped the lines to the horse’s halter, then grabbed a pail of brushes and got to work. Miles was at his side and showed him how to lift up Beau’s feet to clean his hooves, with a stern warning to always be extra careful when working around a horse’s legs and feet.

Tony then followed Miles into the tack room and found the saddle and bridle. Under the handyman’s watchful eye, he tacked up the horse, listening to Miles’ tips on how to properly fit both the saddle and the bridle. Being a lesson horse and ridden so often, the saddle and bridle both showed wear at the appropriate holes so it was easy to tell which notches to use. There were two common marks where the girth was adjusted, but Miles told him the lower setting was fine for now.

Minutes later, he had the horse tacked up and led him as they followed Miles outside. Tony counted four outside riding rings. One had higher jumps than the others, so he gathered that was used for the advanced riders. There were also three indoor riding arenas. Miles led the way to the outside ring that was furthest from the barn. He held the gate open while Tony led Beau inside, then latched it closed.

“Will we be jumping today?” Tony asked, hopefully.

“We’ll see. You did fine yesterday and we’ll work a bit more on your foundation today. The more you ride, the better you will get at it.”

“That is what I’m here for.”

As before, Miles led the horse to the mounting block and held the reins while Tony mounted up. When Tony was settled in the saddle, Miles stepped to the side to adjust the stirrups. “When you’re on the horse, let your leg hang down. You’ll want to adjust the stirrup so it rests about here. Another good rule of thumb is, before you even mount up, put your fingertips to the saddle and adjust the stirrup so it hits your armpit. Not foolproof, but it’s usually pretty close.”

“Good tip,” said Tony as he tried not to imagine Miles’ hand sliding further up his leg.

Miles double-checked the bridle, reins, saddle and the girth, moving Tony’s leg to the side and cinching the girth a bit tighter. “Horses do what we call bloating. They’ll suck in air while you saddle them, so the girth isn’t as tight as it should be. You don’t want a loose girth when you’re jumping, so you’ll want to check it again before you mount up in the ring.”

Miles moved to the center of the riding ring and had Tony put Beau through his paces. Occasionally, Miles would move some rails around and have Tony rein Beau one way or the other. At the end of the lesson, Miles taught Tony how to lean forward to get ready to jump the horse.

“When do I get to actually start jumping?” Tony asked as Miles motioned him to come to the center of the ring and dismount.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Miles replied as he patted Beau’s neck.

Tony led the dark horse back into the barn and unsaddled him under Miles’ watchful eye. The pair walked together quietly as Tony returned the horse to his stall, where Miles nodded his approval of Tony’s work.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Miles. Looking forward to jumping, I guess.”

“It’s a great way to learn balance. It’ll keep you in shape, too, both mentally and physically.”

“I don’t mean to be forward Miles. Just curious. Do you live here?”

Miles’ stern expression faded into one of amusement. “No, I don’t live in a stall. Not unless we have a sick horse. I have a place where I rent a room.”

“Why did you leave the Marines?”

“Got too old. What do you do for a living?”

Tony shrugged. “Boring stuff. My boss is an attorney. I run his office. He’s a friend of my father’s.”

“Is your father an attorney also?”

“Exactly.”

“I guess that explains how he can afford to give you a pricey watch as a gift.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, that’s my dad. Always throwing his money around. Does Lucy’s husband ever come down to the barn? Does he ride?”

“Not really. He spends more time with his cronies. He sometimes comes down to talk to Lucy. He’ll be the one in the suit and tie.”

“So he still works?”

“Yeah. He’s some sort of businessman. Real estate, I think. I don’t pry into their business. I’m just here to do a job.”

“And hang out with the horses.”

“It is a benefit.”

The following day when he was at work, Tony did a search on Miles Benton and found that he had a clean record. The image on the driver’s license matched the man at the stables, but when he checked the address, it came back to a Mexican restaurant.

“Isn’t that interesting? The man with a clean past lists a restaurant as his home? I wonder if there is an apartment in the same building. Or a room. He said he rented a room.”

During his midday break, Tony visited the restaurant for lunch and asked the servers and hostess if they knew Miles Benton, and learned they didn’t. Even when he showed them the cropped image from the driver’s license on file, no one remembered ever seeing the man in the area. Tony also asked if there were apartments or rooms to rent in the building and was told no.

After eating, he looked back at the building and muttered to himself. “He must know someone here unless he managed to grab his license out of their mail before they saw it. Maybe he has a friend at the post office.”

He found himself oddly drawn to the former Marine. There was something in the man’s voice that felt comforting, except when he was yelling about some mistake Tony had made, which didn’t happen too often. The most confusing thing was that the man seemed fairly intelligent, so why was he bumming around a stable knocking fence posts and jumps together? Certainly, he could make more money as a carpenter in the city. Or did he just love horses that much? One thing Tony had decided was that he’d like to learn more about Miles.

Once again, he arrived at the stables after work, then pulled his boots and helmet from the trunk. When he was properly geared up, he walked into the barn and checked the board. His assigned mount of the day was Ranger, who turned out to be a retired racehorse, dark bay in color. Miles led the way to the stall to point out which horse was Ranger. “You’ll like him. He’s easy to handle and a pretty good jumper.”

“I thought all Thoroughbreds were high strung.”

“Not all of them.”

After getting the horse saddled, Tony led him out to the ring and next to the mounting block. This time, Miles had Tony adjust his own stirrups before mounting up. After warming up, Tony put Ranger through his paces, then got in a little practice going over small jumps. They were so low to the ground that half the time Ranger merely lifted his feet a bit higher, but sometimes he jumped.

“That’s pretty cool,” Tony said excitedly. “I’m really enjoying the lessons, although I must confess my legs are a bit sore.”

“Probably because you’re not used to spreading them so wide,” teased Miles.

“I’ve spread my legs plenty of times,” Tony said in proud defiance. When Miles began laughing, Tony thought about what he said. “Or maybe not. I mean…”

“Tony, just stop. There are children around.”

Turning his head, Tony looked for other people and the closest ones he saw were two riding rings away and surely out of hearing range. But he still shut up anyway. It was obvious he was only digging himself deeper into a hole of embarrassment.

The following day, he was assigned a chestnut mare named Honey. After putting her through her paces, Miles asked if Tony had a preference for any of the horses he’d ridden so far. Tony thought for a minute before responding that he liked Beau and Ranger the best.

That night he dreamed about riding Beau long and hard before putting him away. As he looked to Miles for approval, the man head-slapped him again, but told him he was doing great. When Tony woke up, his hand immediately went to the back of his head and he smiled. He’d never had a man get into his head or his heart the way Miles did. He wondered what would happen if he hit on the handyman.

The next day, Tony was summoned to the Captain’s office again. The man did not look at all happy.

“Shut the door, DiNozzo, and take a seat.”

Tony did as he was asked and wondered what he had messed up now.

“Who is Miles Benton?” the captain asked pointedly.

“What?”

“Miles Benton. You looked up his driver’s license and did a background check on him a couple of days ago. Who is he and why are you checking into him?”

Tony could feel his face turning red. How the hell had his captain found out about his checking up on Miles? “He’s no one really.” Pausing, Tony thought for a moment while he tried to come up with a way to explain why he was backgrounding Miles. “He’s a carriage driver downtown. I thought I saw something but didn’t have any proof. I knew it wouldn’t take too long to check into his background to see if he had any outstanding warrants. I didn’t find anything on him. He’s clean.”

“I’ve been asked by the director of NCIS to have you back off. You can’t check into him anymore.”

“NCIS? Who or what is NCIS?” asked Tony.

“They’re the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Basically, Navy and Marine cops,” the captain explained.

“What’s their beef with him?”

“No clue. They said it is need-to-know, and they made it abundantly clear that Baltimore PD is not on the need-to-know list. They strongly suggested that I make it crystal clear to you to turn over anything you have on this guy, and back off.”

“I don’t really have anything, Captain. Just a gut feeling.”

“Good, then we won’t have any issues.”

“How did they even know I checked up on the guy?”

“They didn’t say, but apparently they’re getting a ping on any searches done in the system on him. You need to drop it. Let it go and get back to work, DiNozzo.”

“Yes, sir!”

Sitting at his desk, Tony leaned back in his chair and thought about Miles. What the hell was he into? Why was NCIS investigating a man with a clean record? Perhaps he had a clean record on the outside, but was a bad apple in the corps? That didn’t really make sense. Miles seemed like a straight-shooter. What about Lucy’s husband? Was there some connection between former Marine Miles and Lucy’s retired Navy husband? One thing was clear, he couldn’t be caught looking into either man, not after the stern warning he’d just been given by his captain.

During his lunch break, Tony went downtown to the horse-drawn carriage stand and parked a short distance down the street. Although he disliked eating in his car, he went to a nearby deli for a sandwich, chips and iced tea, then sat in his car and watched the horse-drawn carriages make their rounds. He never caught sight of Miles, but remembered the man said he only drove a carriage if they were short a driver. No matter, he was able to watch the horses and the drivers, and even spotted a couple of the mounted officers out on patrol. That was interesting. Tony took special notice of the uniforms the officers wore as well as how the horses were outfitted. It wouldn’t be all that bad being a mounted officer, he told himself.

His captain’s words rolled around his head, that the mounted police were mostly PR. How the heck was he going to make detective now? The patrol cars all had computers, but did the mounted cops? He couldn’t see a computer and never saw either officer even check a cell phone. What had he gotten himself into?

When he walked into the stable that evening, he found Miles saddling up a dapple-gray horse. “Hey Miles! Were you bored?”

“Bored? Never.”

“Oh, then you’re saddling that horse for someone else? For a moment I thought you were saddling up a horse for me.”

Miles’ eyes sparkled as he laughed. “No. This is Misty. I’m going to take her out for a ride.”

Tony felt like his heart skipped a beat. “Oh? You’re not teaching me today?”

“Calm down. I am. I decided we’d go for a trail ride today. You said you would be doing some riding outside of the ring, so I thought we’d work on that. You’re riding Beau, so go ahead and get him ready.”

“On it!” As Tony stopped by the tack room, he surreptitiously checked the board and found he was indeed assigned to ride Beau. At least he knew the horse and where to find the saddle and bridle. Miles led Misty over and waited while Tony saddled up Beau.

As soon as they were ready, he followed Miles out the back of the barn where there was a mounting block. Tony stopped there and mounted up, while Miles continued leading Misty to a gate that he opened for Tony and Beau. After leading Misty through the gate, Miles latched it shut and mounted up from the ground. It didn’t escape Tony’s notice that Misty was quite a bit shorter than Beau. He was sure glad he’d gotten to use the mounting block on the other side of the gate.

For the first part of the trail, they followed a gravel road. Miles waved Tony up to ride by his side. A short time later, they cut off the road onto a single file bridle path through the trees. Tony noticed this section was fairly hilly, requiring him to lean back going downhill, forward going uphill and occasionally to the side to avoid tree branches. It didn’t take long for him to learn to stay a few feet behind Miles and Misty. It’s not that Misty ever kicked, but that Miles would push tree branches aside, and if Tony was too close when they were released, he got smacked in the face, which seemed to be a source of amusement to Miles.

Several minutes later, they emerged in a grassy field that Miles said was called the upper pasture. It was beautiful with a handful of shade trees and plenty of lush, green grass. Miles pushed Misty into a canter and raced across the field. Tony followed behind with Beau and soon realized there were jumps set up in the field. Most were made from wood, but they were clearly manmade, not just fallen trees.

Tony continued riding behind Miles and smiled at the view he was afforded. The man before him certainly had a nice, firm looking ass that was delightfully displayed when Misty took a jump. He noticed that Miles stuck to the lower jumps and bypassed the taller ones. Tony was thankful for that because he hadn’t jumped over a foot and a half in the riding ring.

After they completed a circuit, Miles pulled Misty down to a walk and eventually stopped and dismounted. Tony reined Beau to a stop a few feet away.

“Get down,” ordered Miles.

“Down?”

“Yeah, down. Dismount. You remember how, right?”

Miles was teasing him again. Of course he’d dismounted every time he’d ridden. Scanning the area, he saw no mounting blocks and wondered if any of the jumps were the right size and shape to pull double duty. Despite his reservations, he did as he was told and dropped to the ground. Following Miles’ lead, he picked up Beau’s hooves one by one and checked them for stones or other debris.

“How would we tie them up?” asked Tony, noticing the dearth of hitching posts.

“If we intended to tie them, we would have brought the halters and lead lines,” Miles informed him.

“What if you fell and I wanted to check on you? I’d just let Beau run loose?”

Miles’ eyes twinkled with his laughter. “You think I’d be more likely to fall than you?”

“It was just a hypothetical question. I can switch it around, if you prefer. What if I fell and you came to check on me? Would you let Misty loose?”

“In the case of an emergency, you can use the reins. Cowboys did it for decades.”

“Good to know. And just for the record, I’m really not planning to fall off.”

“Most people don’t.”

“Most?”

Miles’ smile sent a chill through Tony’s spine. “Stuntmen. They train to fall off.”

“Of course. I don’t think I’m quite up to that skill level, though.”

“No, you certainly are not.”

It was a warm day, but not uncomfortable. Still, Tony angled to move Beau into a shady spot beneath a tree. “So, now what?”

“Get back on.”

“What do I use? I don't see a mounting block.”

There was amusement playing in Miles’ blue eyes, but his vocal tone was flat. “Put your foot in the stirrup and pull yourself up.”

“Have you seen how tall Beau is?” Tony whined.

“I’m not blind. If you go out riding, what are you going to do if you did fall off? What would you do when you came to a gate that you needed to open or close?”

Rubbing his chin, Tony said, “I hadn’t really thought about it. I figured the person with the shortest horse would get the gate.”

“What if you’re out riding alone? Any horse you ride, you really need to be able to mount and dismount on your own. Go ahead,” Miles urged. “Up you go.”

Tony sighed deeply as he faced the mountain of a horse standing beside him. “Yeah, okay. Just put a foot in the stirrup and pull myself up. No problem.”

As Miles stood closely behind him, Tony assumed he was going to help with a push or a boost, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Tony didn’t pull quite hard enough and his foot slipped out of the stirrup. Not wanting to fall on his back and risk injuring his spine, he quickly twisted around, intending to land on his hands and knees.

He did manage to knock Miles flat on his ass, and Tony landed with his face against the other man’s thigh. One of his hands was on the ground between Miles’ legs, but the other one had landed rather inappropriately on Miles’ crotch. Slowly lifting his head, Tony looked up into the other man’s eyes and found him scowling.

Miles nodded toward Tony’s hand on his crotch and hissed out, “That is not where that goes.”

Tony’s ears felt as if they were on fire, as the blush came on quickly. “S-s-so sorry. I d-d-don’t know how that happened,” he stammered uncomfortably. Miles simply glared at him, then nodded to the hand again. Tony then withdrew it quickly as if the crotch of Miles’ breeches had suddenly turned to lava. He did find it interesting that the cock seemed to be hardening under his unwelcome touch. But it would be way too inappropriate to mention it at all, even to joke about it. “Sorry,” he whispered again softly as he backed away. He offered his hand, but Miles declined to take it.

It didn’t take long for Miles to get back onto his feet. Misty’s reins were still in his hands. Pointing at Beau a few feet away, he said, “Go get him and try again.”

Turning, Tony saw the dark horse was grazing behind him, oblivious to his rider’s faux pas. It took Tony a few minutes to catch Beau as the horse kept moving whenever he closed in, but eventually, he was able to grasp the reins and led him back to the tall oak tree where Miles was waiting. “What happens if I can’t get on?”

“You’re going to have to figure it out, or walk back to the stables,” Miles said firmly, his arms folded sternly across his chest. After watching a couple more failed attempts, he suggested, “You could lower the stirrup down a notch or two and still get on, then adjust it back to riding length.

“Oh, okay. Thanks.” With that minor adjustment made, Tony was finally able to get himself back into the saddle. It was good training, he surmised. He’d been studying the photos of the mounted patrol more closely, and they did all seem to be larger draft breeds. His legs ached just thinking about it. Getting used to mounting from the ground would likely be a handy skill, unless he planned to remain in the saddle for eight hours straight.

They rode back to the barn silently, with Miles and Misty leading the way. When they arrived at the gate, it was Tony’s turn to dismount, open and close it, then he was expected to climb back into Beau’s saddle again. Miles had moved Misty through the gate, then waited patiently for Tony to remount.

Silent misery clouded over Tony’s presence as he unsaddled Beau and put the gear away. He felt like an idiot and wasn’t sure if he’d ever get over his embarrassment. What if Miles didn’t want to teach him anymore?

After returning the dark horse to his stall, Tony went in search of Miles to apologize again and found him in the handyman’s tool room at the back of the barn.

“I really am very sorry. It wasn’t intentional, I promise you. I don’t even know how that happened. I was trying to climb up, my foot slipped and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled across the ground. Well, actually, I was sprawled all over you and…”

Standing up, Miles walked over to Tony and settled his hands on the man’s shoulders, facing him. “Tony, shut up. It’s over. Let’s just move on, okay?”

Nodding slowly, Tony agreed. “Yeah, sure.” But as he walked away, returning to his car, all he could think about was his hand on Miles’ cock.

Chapter Text

For the weekend, Tony had called Lucy to ask if he could double his lesson time, from thirty minutes to an hour. She’d been agreeable. On Saturday afternoon, he walked over to the tack room, looked at the board and saw his instructor’s name was Leslie. Not Miles, but Leslie. For a moment, he just stood and stared at the board. His hand tingled, remembering how he had landed with his hand on the other man’s crotch. And now Miles didn’t want to teach him anymore?

He was determined to find the man and fix whatever the issue was. As far as Tony was concerned, Miles was his instructor. It was disappointing that Miles had dumped him onto Leslie.

He tried checking the handyman’s tool room and also going over to Lucy’s office but found they were both locked. He’d scanned over the other lessons searching for Miles’ name, or Lucy’s, but found neither. There were a few people milling around the barn, but it seemed to be more boarders and fewer students than he normally saw throughout the week. He did notice most lessons were scheduled in the morning, and only a very few were in the afternoon.

Not wanting to be late, he grabbed Honey’s tack and got her ready for the lesson. As he walked her out to the ring, he saw no one out there, but as soon as he led the horse through the gate, he saw a slim brunette walking his way.

“You must be Tony,” she called amiably. “I’m Leslie.”

“Did something happen to Miles?” he asked shyly. A blush ebbed across his face, as he remembered their embarrassing moment again. He’d accidentally groped the other man’s crotch. No wonder Miles had abandoned him!

“No, not at all. He doesn’t normally work on weekends unless there is a safety issue,” she replied, her tone unemotionally matter-of-fact.

A wave of relief flowed over him. “So he was never going to teach me on the weekends?”

Shaking her head she replied, “No. Lucy asked the rest of us if we wanted to pick up your lessons on the weekends. I’m here anyway, so I volunteered for Saturday. We don’t normally give lessons on Sundays at all. Lucy likes to give the horses all a day off and we usually put them out in the upper pasture for the day. I’m not sure who she got to teach you tomorrow. I applaud your intense lesson plan. You must really be serious about wanting to learn to ride quickly.”

Tony’s eyes widened. He wasn’t used to so much chatter from his instructor. “But as far as you know my lesson is still on for tomorrow?”

Whipping out her cell phone, she typed in a few words. “I can find out for you. No problem.” Moments later, she smiled and announced. “You’re really lucky! Lucy is taking your lesson herself. She rarely teaches riding anymore unless she’s polishing someone for competition. You’re not planning to compete, are you?”

“No, no, not at all. Just trying to get in my boss’ good graces to help with his family event. I mentioned I could ride horses on my application and he assumed I was really good. I haven’t ridden since summer camp years ago and don’t want to embarrass myself.”

“Ah, okay. Miles said you’re doing very well, so no worries.” Walking around Honey, she checked the saddle and bridle, then nodded. “Good job. Go ahead and mount up. Let’s put you through your paces.”

After the lesson, Leslie chatted with Tony as he unsaddled Honey and put everything away. He learned that all the instructors, other than Lucy, were boarders who took on classes to make extra money or pay off part of their board each month. Other boarders cleaned stalls or tack to make a couple of bucks.

“Miles is the only one who works here that doesn’t also board a horse,” she mentioned.

“How did he get a job here?” asked Tony.

“I’m not really sure. Lucy usually posts jobs she has and any of the boarders can inquire. She has to approve the riding instructors, but anyone can sign up to help clean stalls, tack or feed and water the horses. Miles may have answered an ad they placed in the paper looking for someone who could do some carpentry work.”

That sounded feasible. Tony was still curious why NCIS was checking into the man who seemed to be living a fairly low-key lifestyle.

When Tony arrived for his Sunday lesson, he did see that his was the only name on the board that day. Lucy was indeed listed as his instructor, and Ranger was his mount for the day.

“Ready to get to work?” Lucy called as she rounded the corner.

“Absolutely!”

Just like the day before, there were several boarders milling about. Some were saddling their horses to ride, others were cleaning stalls, tack or just hanging around chatting. Everyone he saw was a female, which he found interesting.

“Does Miles drive carriages on the weekends?” Tony asked inquisitively.

Lucy cocked her head. “Not usually. Weekends are the biggest moneymakers, so that’s when our regular carriage drivers want to work. We’re more likely to be short drivers on weekdays, mostly Monday through Wednesday.”

“He is an interesting guy. I’m sure he finds something to do.”

“Miles has mentioned that he likes to go fishing on the weekends. I honestly don’t know. He has been a godsend though. He’s done a great job fixing up the barns and fencing. And I love that he’s built or repaired a lot of our jumps. Miles is really wonderful to have around.”

Like Leslie the day before, Lucy put Tony through his paces. She definitely enjoyed the jumping aspect and had him jump a course around the ring, taking a succession of jumps, rather than just one fence at a time. At the end of the lesson, she waved him to the center of the ring and gave him some pointers to work on.

“You’re doing really well,” she said as she stroked Ranger’s long nose. “If you decide to stick with it, we could certainly get you in shape to show if you wanted to pursue that. And if you’re ever looking to buy a horse, I’ll bet I could find you a suitable mount.”

“I’ll think about it,” he replied quickly even though he thought riding at work for eight hours a day seemed like more than enough time in a saddle.

When Monday morning rolled around, Tony checked with Arty Collier, who ran the mounted patrol. Instead of being sent to the stables, Tony found himself alone in a room at the main precinct with a stack of reading material he had to study. Arty checked in on him on a regular basis throughout the day and had him take a few written tests covering police procedures and a test specifically created for the mounted police division. Toward the end of the day, Tony asked when he would be meeting Joe, and Arty told him he had to do all the classroom stuff first.

It seemed like it took forever for the day to end, but Tony finally got away and drove to Briarwood Stables. It was a relief to see Miles’ name back on the board as his instructor. He was unsure why the crusty old Marine tugged at his heart, but he’d really missed seeing the guy over the weekend, and he still wondered what the man was into that had instigated an NCIS investigation. It definitely wasn’t something he could ask the guy about. He’d just have to try to figure it out himself.

He saw that Ranger was his mount of the day again and readily tacked the horse up and headed toward their assigned riding ring. Without meaning to, his eyes dropped to Miles’ crotch.

In an instant, Miles pointed to his eyes. “Up here!”

“Oh, sorry. I was just…”

“And stop apologizing. Mount up and let’s get started.”

Tony smiled, thinking it was nice to have the gruff Marine back in charge of his riding lessons.

Gibbs had Tony mount up from the ground again, but stood a fair distance away as he observed his student. With the image of the fall fresh in his mind, and Miles’ obvious avoidance, Tony blushed again, but mounted up and adjusted his stirrups.

They managed to get through the lesson without any hitches. After Tony put Ranger and the tack away, and placed his helmet back into his trunk. Then he searched around the barn until he found Miles mucking out a stall.

“Can I take you out for a drink?” he offered.

Miles continued using a pitchfork to pile soiled wood shavings and manure into a wheelbarrow. “A drink?”

“A beer? I thought you might like to get away from the stables for a while. I’m buying. I’ll even drive.”

“I have a lot of work to do.”

“Can I help?” Tony offered. “Really, I’d like to. I need to learn everything, even mucking out the stalls.”

Miles stopped working and stared at Tony for a couple of minutes, then grunted his acceptance of Tony’s offer. Grabbing a second wheelbarrow, pitchfork and shovel, he opened another stall, and put the horse in the aisle, secured with cross ties, then pointed into the stall.

For the next hour, the pair worked quietly across the aisle from each other. Miles was faster, but he’d also started first. After they’d cleaned several stalls, adding in fresh shavings as bedding and putting the horses back inside, Tony followed Miles around and helped feed and water the animals.

Twisting his wrist, Tony checked the time. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. We’re going to have to find a bar with food, or a restaurant with booze.”

“I know a place.”

They took turns washing up in the bathroom. Returning to his car, Tony changed into his running shoes and put his boots back into the trunk. He was certain he and Miles both still smelled like barn, but he was starving. Despite opening his passenger side door, he watched as Miles walked over to an older pickup truck.

“I can drive,” Tony offered again.

Miles shook his head. “Follow me.”

Tony stared after the man for a few moments, then revved his engine before following the old pickup truck out of the parking lot and down the road. Miles didn’t go far before pulling over in front of a bar. Eyeing the other vehicles, Tony saw there were some bikers and older sports cars, along with some pickup trucks. He wondered if any of the patrons were retired Marine friends of Miles’.

They grabbed an outside table as it was clearly very noisy inside. A server dropped off menus and took their drink order.

“Are you a regular here?” Tony asked.

Miles shook his head. “Came across it driving home from the stables one night when I was looking for a place to eat. Prices are decent and the food is good.”

“Crowd seems a bit rough.”

Looking up from his menu, Miles grinned at Tony. “I carry a blade. I can protect you if you’re worried about the bikers. They’re more growl than bite around here.”

Tony wondered if he should mention he had a gun in a secure lockbox in his trunk. If things started going south, he would have to run for it, but if he made it to his vehicle, it would all be fine.

Miles tapped the table to get Tony’s attention. “It’s not that kind of place. I’ve never seen anything violent here. Not even over a pool game.”

The server dropped off a bucket of bottled beer and took their order for cheeseburgers and fries. Tony made a mental note that he’d have to stick to salads for the rest of the week. He’d been trying to eat healthier and a bacon cheeseburger with fries and beer probably didn’t count as healthy.

“How long have you been out of the Marines?” Tony asked.

Miles shrugged noncommittally. “Lost track.”

“Did you see any action?”

“Served in Desert Storm.”

Tony nodded, then took a drink of his beer. “How’d you learn about horses?”

“Grew up in a small town. Lots of farms around, plenty of horses.”

“How did you get into carpentry?”

“My dad taught me some and I took classes. You interviewing me for something or what?” Miles asked pointedly.

“Just making small talk.”

“I’m not really a fan of chit chat.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to see that. I don’t like eating alone and you seem to be an interesting guy. I sort of felt we had a little bond or something.”

“You talking about the bond when your hand got overly familiar with my crotch?”

The server looked horrified as she set the burgers down, picked up a couple of empty bottles from the table and left hurriedly. Miles chuckled at her discomfort.

“That was totally an accident. I’d keep apologizing, but you’ve already told me to stop saying I’m sorry. You’re cool to hang out with, and you’re helping me learn how to ride. This is just a thank you. For the riding instruction, not the inappropriate grope. Just to be clear.”

“I figured,” said Miles as he reached for another beer.

After the meal, Miles asked Tony if he was up to playing a couple of games of pool. He found that the former Marine was rather skilled with a cue stick and looked rather enticing when he bent down to line up a shot. Tony barely won the first game, and Miles won the second with room to spare.

As they left the bar, Miles noted that he had enjoyed the evening. Tony smiled and nodded as he unlocked his Corvette. “I did, too. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yep.”

The following day was rainy. Tony was glad he was stuck inside with the instruction manuals and tests rather than having to walk a beat in the pouring rain. Arty checked on his progress every couple of hours, but the majority of his time, Tony was left alone to read the manuals.

When the rain hadn’t let up by the end of the day, he called out to the stable to see if his lesson had been canceled and was told, no, of course not. Lessons were just moved to the indoor arenas on cold and rainy days. That wouldn’t be so bad, he tried to convince himself.

It was still pouring rain when he arrived at the stable. At least the lot had gravel instead of just mud to deal with. He’d developed the habit of parking at the far end of the lot in hopes of lessening the risk of his car getting dinged. That also meant he had a longer walk to the stables. Grabbing his umbrella, Tony popped his trunk and picked up his helmet and boots as quickly as possible before dashing into the barn.

According to the board, Beau was his mount for today’s lesson. Finding an empty spot on a bench, Tony sat down and changed into his boots and strapped on his helmet.

While Tony was in the aisle grooming Beau, Miles showed up and gave the horse a pat on his neck.

“Where are we riding today?” Tony asked.

“The training ring in the back of the barn; where Lucy did your assessment.”

Tony nodded and finished tacking up his mount. Miles walked beside him as he led Beau out to the ring.

Tony eyed the mounting block longingly, but Miles said, “From the ground.”

Shaking his head, Tony wondered why all the girls who took lessons got to use the mounting block, but he didn’t think he’d like the answer if he asked. Miles had taught him to grab a handful of the horse’s mane near the withers to help pull himself up. It certainly never seemed to bother the horse. As he started around the ring as a warmup, he noticed a few spots that had water leaking inside.

Miles appeared to read his mind. “More work for me on a sunny day.”

“I gather the work never ends around here.”

“That is true.”

Miles had Tony put Beau through his paces. After moving poles and standards around, he sent the pair through a set of jumps in the small ring. When the lesson was over, Tony unsaddled the horse and returned him to his stall, then went to find Miles.

Like the night before Tony assisted Miles in cleaning a few of the stalls, then feeding the horses, as well as cleaning and refilling the water buckets.

“Doesn’t this make for a long day for you?” Miles asked.

“I need the practice. I want to be able to do everything to take care of a horse and that includes mucking out the stalls, feeding and grooming. Everything. Seems like a win-win to me. I’m gaining experience by taking on some of your workload.” Patting his stomach, he added, “I think I’m even firming up my gut!”

Miles nodded as he dumped a load of fresh bedding into a stall and began spreading it around. “Working with horses will do that. Between grooming, saddling, riding and cleaning stalls, it certainly gives you a good overall workout.”

“How did you end up working here?” Tony ventured, wanting to hear the story directly from his instructor.

Miles closed the stall door after putting the horse back inside, then moved on to the next stall, leading the horse into the aisle and clipping it to the cross ties. “They posted an ad looking for someone who could help with the horses and do carpentry and maintenance. A friend saw it and suggested it might be a good job for me. I showed up and Lucy hired me on the spot.”

“You were a Marine. I figured you had more skills than just carpentry.”

“I enjoy working with my hands,” said Miles as he shoveled another scoop of manure from the stall into the wheelbarrow.

“What did you do in the Marines?”

Pausing in his work, Miles locked eyes with Tony and stoically said, “Sniper.”

Tony was so surprised that he froze for a moment. “Sniper? That means you were what? Like a gunnery sergeant?”

“Yep. Not much of that skill set translates to a civilian vocation.”

“Shooting range instructor,” suggested Tony. “Cop.”

“Vigilante cop?” Miles said with a laugh. “I like horses. No matter how stressful life is, just watching a horse grazing in a pasture takes the stress away.”

“Peaceful meditation. I get it.” After finishing up one stall, and moving on to the next, Tony said, “Hey! I have a registered gun. Maybe we can go to a shooting range sometime and fire off a few rounds. You can manage a handgun, right?”

“Are we dating now?” Miles asked in a deadpan voice.

Tony froze again. Suddenly, all words seemed to escape him. And there was Miles, just staring at him. He had to say something. Anything! “Um, I thought you could maybe use a friend? I noticed you don’t really socialize much around the barn.”

“Well, that’s because most people around the barn are pre-teen and teenage girls. Society generally frowns on men of my age hanging out with minor females they’re not related to.”

After releasing a long sigh, Tony said, “I enjoyed hanging out with you last night. That’s all. I hope I’m better company than a television set.”

“You think that’s all I do? Muck out stalls and watch TV?”

Tony shrugged. “And drink beer?”

“Beer is fine, but I’m more of a bourbon man,” said Miles as he finished another stall.

“You drank beer last night.”

“I had to drive home.”

“So what do you do when you’re not here?”

Miles smiled. “I’m building a boat.”

“Maybe we can go sailing together one day,” Tony suggested.

Looking up with genuine interest, Miles asked, “You know how to sail?”

“About as well as I can ride a horse. I haven’t done much sailing since I was in my teens, but I’ll bet I can pick it back up fairly easily.”

“How well do you handle a weapon?”

Leaning on his pitchfork, Tony asked, “You willing to go to the shooting range with me and find out?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ll even spring for dinner again afterward.”

The pair finished up their work, then Tony searched his cell phone for a nearby shooting range. He wanted to find one far enough out of town that he didn’t think anyone he knew would show up there. While he enjoyed spending time with Miles, he didn’t want to be outed as a cop in front of his new friend since he’d told him he ran an attorney’s office. Finding a suitable range, he nodded out to the parking lot. “Follow me!”

It was still raining fairly hard when they arrived at the range, and they were able to walk in and get a spot right away. Tony brought in his weapon from the lockbox in his trunk and paid for their time. It didn’t escape his notice that Miles had brought in a handgun as well.

“Sharp looking Colt,” said Tony. “I should have guessed. Fits right in with working at a stable.”

“Nice Sig.”

“It does the job. You always carry a weapon with you?”

“Don’t you? Just got used to having a weapon around when I served. Sort of a habit.”

After firing off a few rounds, they compared their targets, each man suitably impressed with the other’s skill.

“We’ll have to pick a nice day and go out to a rifle range,” said Tony. “I’d love to see your sniper skills in action.”

“You’re not too bad yourself.”

“I hope I’m more fun than watching TV.”

Miles smirked. “Depends on the show.”

Chapter Text

A storm blew through the area in the morning but cleared by early afternoon. Tony had compiled his training notes into a binder and spent a couple of hours organizing and studying them. The study material included some basic police procedures, along with a study of equine anatomy and care of a horse. Basic riding etiquette and procedures were also included. In the afternoon, he asked Arty when he could meet the horses and found that Arty was agreeable to taking him over to the stables for a visit.

He found there were twelve horses in a twenty-stall barn. Arty explained that there were four horses currently out on patrol.

“We rotate the horses’ shifts and usually run three shifts per day. The early shift has two to four officers and the later shifts, four to six officers. We tend to run heavier shifts on the weekends and holidays,” Arty informed him. “If we need extra coverage for parades or large gatherings, we shift things around or offer overtime.”

“So it’s not the same every day?”

“We rotate things around as needed. We don’t run the shifts around the clock like other patrols. The riding shifts are normally ten to four, one to seven and four to ten.”

“The shifts are only six hours?”

Arty smiled as they walked the main aisle in the barn. “Six hours of riding. There is also caring for the horses and tack, writing reports and ongoing training. There are rotations for cleaning the barn, stalls and saddlery, also feeding, watering and turning the horses out in the paddock, training and exercising.”

Arty gave Tony some background information on each of the horses, how old they were, their breeding, and how long they had been with the mounted patrol, noting all of the horses were geldings. They were mostly draft breeds, full or mixed, or had Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred breeding, along with a Morgan. Tony noticed a couple of pintos and an appaloosa among the bays, grays and chestnuts and quipped that he didn’t know how the Canadian mounted police kept all the black horses straight.

Arty also showed Tony the kitchenette, lounge, bathrooms and the office space and answered his questions. While they were there, Tony met some of the other officers and found out that they all didn’t ride each day. There were always two officers scheduled at the barn around the clock to ensure the horses’ care and safety.

“The officers remaining at the stables do the cleaning and feeding. The shift supervisor remains at the barn and they also make sure to order in the feed and hay. Most officers prefer to tack up their own horses when they’re assigned to ride. Our mounts are also trained and exercised on a regular basis.”

“What kind of training?”

“Mostly agility training and jumping. We have ways to teach them to get used to city noises and we maintain that. Horses are flight animals, so we need to make sure they’re used to loud sounds and banging, like car accidents, honking horns, trucks, airplanes, trains or large crowds of people yelling and shouting.”

“I heard many of them are retired carriage horses.”

“That’s true. We like using the draft breeds as they’re big, strong horses with good stamina. Also, the carriage horses are used to the sights and sounds of the city, and have spent time being petted and photographed by tourists. Most of the horses have pulled carriages, but some are donated because their owners thought they’d make good patrol horses. Some were show horses or even trail horses and their owners opted to donate them instead of selling them.”

“Are any of the horses from the Briarwood Carriage stables?”

“Oh, yeah, at least four or five of our horses came from the Briarwoods. Interesting family. Ryan Briarwood runs the carriage barn downtown. His sister Lucy runs a riding stable a few miles out of town and the rest of the family lives further out on an equine breeding and training facility. When we’re in the market, we’ll see if they have any suitable horses for sale, but we’ve purchased through other sellers as well. We have some typical places we look and have a couple of trailers. It’s not unusual for the first shift officers to trailer a couple horses around to schools where they can talk to kids and demonstrate riding. Most kids like horses, so it’s a good way to introduce them to cops.”

“My captain said there is a bit of PR and parades with the mounted police.”

“That’s true. Sometimes overtime is approved. Other times we change the shifts around to get extra coverage for sports events, concerts, parades and special celebrations like the fourth of July. The mounted patrol has a much better view in a crowd than a cop on foot, and much better mobility in heavy traffic than a vehicle.”

“Taller and faster than a bicycle unit, I’d imagine.”

Arty grinned. “Taller, yes. As far as speed, that depends whether you’re going uphill or downhill. Another plus is that people can see a horse coming through a crowd and will generally get out of the way. They may not see a bicycle coming through. Our horses are also trained to gently push crowds, not to hurt anyone, but a horse can push harder than a bicycle.”

“And I’d image they’re less likely to hurt or kill someone, as opposed to a car.”

“Yeah, people don’t like us pushing anyone back with a vehicle, that’s for sure!”

Arty showed him where the schedules were posted for both the horses and the officers. “We have twenty officers assigned to the department, plus myself. Between all the officers, we cover all the riding, barn and supervisory shifts. If everyone is on active duty, you might pull a beat rotation here and there to cover vacations or sick days.”

Tony thanked Arty for the tour as they returned to the main precinct. He learned that Arty was in charge of all the hiring, scheduling, training, testing and reviewing of the mounted patrol. It was up to him when horses were bought, sold or retired. It was also his responsibility to ensure the horses were scheduled with the farrier and for regular vet visits.

It was a nicer day at the stable, but Tony read the board and found that his lesson was still in the inside training arena. While he’d noticed Miles’ pickup truck was missing from the lot, the man’s name was still listed as his instructor for the day. After grooming and tacking up his assigned mount of the day, Honey, Tony led her to the arena, smiling as he was able to easily mount from the ground. Honey was quite a bit shorter than Ranger or Beau. With Miles still missing, Tony began walking Honey around the ring to warm her up.

Five minutes later, Miles arrived, apologizing for being late and grumbling something unintelligible about ‘traffic’. Taking it all in stride, Tony nodded and said it was fine and he was ready to go. When he asked Miles why the lesson was inside even though it wasn’t raining, the response was merely that the outside rings were still too muddy to use.

The lesson ran a few minutes long as Miles insisted that Tony get his full time in. At the end of the lesson, Tony asked Miles if he’d like to grab a bite to eat.

“I’m driving one of the carriages downtown today. A driver didn’t show up, so Ryan, Lucy’s brother, called out here and asked Lucy if I’d be willing to pick up a shift.”

“And you still came all the way back out here to teach my lesson?”

“Well, yeah, Tony. I keep my commitments.”

“Maybe you can teach me how to drive a carriage one day.”

“Sure. It’s not hard. Would you like to ride along today?” asked Miles.

Tony patted Honey’s neck as he clipped her to the cross ties to unsaddle her. “Really? They won’t care?”

Miles shrugged. “I’ll just say you’re in training. They don’t pay trainees, but you can ride along to see if you like it. They have an opening so Ryan won’t mind.”

“I’d love to learn to drive a horse. Sounds fascinating. Although, I don’t think I would really have the time to drive a carriage as a side job or anything, not with my full-time job and all.”

“No worries. No obligation.” As they left the barn, Miles offered, “I can drive if you want. Sometimes it’s tough to find parking downtown.”

“Right. You don’t mind bringing me back to my car later?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll be coming back this way anyway.”

“And Lucy won’t care if I leave my car here?”

“No, it’s fine,” Miles assured him.

Stopping by his Corvette, Tony changed into his sneakers and dropped off his riding helmet and boots in the trunk before donning a Baltimore Oriel’s baseball cap and his sunglasses. “Let’s do this.”

With Miles at the wheel, Tony found that the man had a penchant for driving fast and taking as many unpaved shortcuts as he could find. When Tony held on to steady himself, Miles only smiled and pushed harder on the accelerator. They arrived downtown in record time.

“Let me guess, you wanted to be a race car driver as a kid. Right?” Tony asked.

Miles grinned as he parked the car. “Maybe.”

Tony wasn’t surprised that the carriage horse barn wasn’t too far from the mounted police stables. They did have a small parking lot but no paddock for the horses. “So the horses only get out of their stalls when they’re working?”

“Not at all,” replied Miles as he pointed to the four-horse trailer to the side of the building. “Ryan brings in four fresh horses on some days and takes four others back home at night. They get turned out on pasture for a few days before he rotates them back into service.”

“He drives back and forth every single day?”

“Sometimes. Ryan has an office here with a small apartment above it, and also a room at his parents’ farm. There are two more apartments here, above the stalls, so he allows drivers to stay for free; one apartment for men and the other for women.”

“Are there more men or women drivers?”

“It varies. I guess it’s usually pretty even.”

As they stepped inside the barn, Tony spotted a very well-dressed man in a suit and nodded to him. The man ignored him as he spoke to a younger man wearing slacks and a polo shirt. Tony observed them long enough to memorize their features, then followed Miles further into the barn. They came to a stall with a bright bay Clydesdale already wearing a harness, her mane and tail both braided and adorned with red, white and blue ribbons.

“This is Rosie,” said Miles as he patted her neck.

“Already harnessed up and ready to go. That’s nice.”

“I did that earlier. I drove her a few hours this morning and just put her up to teach your lesson.”

Tony watched as Miles tightened up the harness and led the mare out of the stall and down the aisle. They went outside and had a short walk under a covered walkway to an attached garage. This building had what looked like several parking spots, but instead of cars, the only things inside were a few carriages. Miles backed Rosie up to one and hitched her up before leading her outside.

“They have a flatbed out at the farm they use when they need to move the carriages around.”

Tony appeared surprised. “Why would they do that?”

“If they buy or sell one, take one in for repairs or repainting or if they get hired privately.”

“Private carriage rides?”

“Usually for weddings, fancy parties and they have been hired for movie appearances.”

Tony nodded. “They must do a decent business.”

“Usually.”

“Except when it rains or snows?” Tony asked.

“Most are open, but they do have some fully enclosed carriages out at the farm and a few are like convertibles. They have roll-up tops in case it rains. No cover for the drivers, but it keeps the passengers mostly dry.”

“I guess the tourists prefer the open carriages so they can see the sights.”

Tony noted there were two gates into the lot. The one that was open, that they had driven through, had a grate over the entrance. Miles led Rosie out of the garage to the closed gate and had Tony unlatch and open it.

Nodding to the open gate they had driven through in the pickup truck, Miles explained, “Horses can’t walk over the grate. Their hooves would get stuck and they’d fall.”

“So that gate is always open?”

“Not always. Someone living here will open it in the morning before Ryan gets here. It’s usually closed and locked whenever the drivers with cars leave for the day.”

Tony had noticed the extensive alarm system, keypads and cameras. “How late do the drivers work at night?”

“It varies. If business is light we’ll shut it down around seven or so. On busy nights, most weekends and holidays, they’ll drive until business slows down. The drivers who live here usually work later and longer hours than the others.”

As they walked around the corner and took their spot at the end of the line of carriages for hire, Tony asked. “Who was the guy in the fancy suit?”

Miles was busy inspecting Rosie’s harness and fussing with her mane and tail, making sure everything looked perfect. “That was Lucy’s husband, Dennis Hayward.”

“Really? What the heck is he doing down here?”

“Apparently, he’s a friend of Ryan’s. Or they have mutual friends or something. I was told that Ryan is the one who introduced Dennis to Lucy.”

“Oh, wow. That’s interesting. I wonder what their common bond is?”

“Who knows?”

“The younger guy he was talking to is pretty handsome. Is that Lucy’s brother Ryan?”

Miles smirked. “Didn’t know you were into dudes.”

“Oh, no. It’s not like that.”

“Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Tony sat silent for a few moments, then decided to open up to Miles. “Let’s just say that I appreciate men and women equally, and he is an attractive young man. Just as Lucy is a gorgeous lady and I have no doubt that their other siblings are equally good looking.”

Miles nodded slowly as he mulled over Tony’s words.

The pair had a few minutes of downtime to chat. Every time one carriage was hired, all the others moved up until Miles and Tony were at the head of the line. They caught a fare rather quickly, a couple out on a date who had just finished dinner at an Italian restaurant but were not ready to go home and say good night just yet.

As the couple snuggled in the back, Miles gave Tony pointers on how to drive a carriage. Tony asked about the foot brake the carriage had and Miles explained it was used when going downhill, to take some of the burden and weight of the carriage off of the horse, and pointed out to Tony when he was using it and how much pressure to apply.

Miles also explained that customers were offered different ride options. One route was approximately thirty minutes, the other approximately sixty, or they could combine those into a ninety-minute ride. He also explained the pricing and how much drivers made, saying that there was also an advantage to the longer carriage rides. They cost more, so the drivers were paid more.

“How do they know how many rides you give or how long they are?” asked Tony.

Miles nodded to an older man sitting in a lawn chair near the carriage stand. “Ryan pays someone to monitor the rides. The time is marked down when you leave with a customer and when you return to the line.”

“Don’t you get breaks? What if you want to stop and grab a bite to eat?”

“Your breaks are between your rides. Many of the drivers buy carryout at the restaurants within a block or two, so they allow us to use their bathrooms. We get the food to go and come back to eat at the carriage so we can keep our place in line.”

“Do the others ever jump you in line if you leave for a few minutes?”

“Not usually. Depends though. Most drivers will move your horse and carriage forward, some won’t and if you’re gone too long and the line is moving, those drivers may pull around your carriage and move up in line.”

“That stinks.”

“You learn pretty quick who does what and if you have a line jumper behind you, you try not to leave.”

“So you get all this cash and pay Ryan?”

“The person tracking the rides will give you a slip of paper to take back to the barn with the total owed. We wrap the money with the slip, stick in an envelope and put it in a metal lockbox near the office.”

“What if someone doesn’t pay?”

“Ryan checks it against the list if he’s here or the next day, whenever he works next, and he makes sure everyone paid correctly. If you didn’t, he will find you.”

“Got it. And anything above what you owe is your tips?”

“Yep.”

“What if there is a dispute? Like the monitor puts you down for more rides than you really took?”

“I guess it could happen, but hasn’t to me. Since we take turns, everyone should have about the same number of rides. They list who goes out at what time on the main list, then fill it out onto your sheet, which they give you at the end of your shift. They also sign it, so you can’t turn in a fake sheet with no signature.”

After three rides, Miles offered to let Tony take the reins for a while. They didn’t change seats. Miles just handed over the reins for a while and gave Tony some driving tips as they went along.

At the end of the night, Miles asked the monitor for his driving sheet and had the guy sign off on it. Tony drove back to the carriage barn, and Miles jumped down to unlock the gate while Tony drove Rosie inside.

Miles then showed Tony where they emptied the poop bucket and washed down the poop sling and bucket before setting them up to dry. Miles had explained the reason to move poop into the bucket was so they didn’t have to smell it for hours. They then unharnessed Rosie and put her away before cleaning the harness. Miles explained that it wasn’t good to leave horsehair and sweat on the harness overnight, so each driver cleaned his or her horse’s harness before putting it away for the day.

When they were back in Miles’ pickup truck, he offered some of his tip money to Tony who refused to take any. “I’m good,” he said. “The experience itself was well worth it.”

“At least let me take you out for a late dinner?”

Checking his watch, Tony realized they hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, other than Miles snacking on an apple while they were waiting for a fare. “Yeah, I was having so much fun, I didn’t realize we skipped dinner.”

To his surprise, Miles took him to a steakhouse, simply stating that he loved steak and he’d made good tips that night. When Miles ordered a medium-rare filet mignon with all the fixings, Tony said he’d have the same. Another surprise was the bottle of red wine Miles ordered, leaving Tony to wonder whether they really were dating. He was almost disappointed that Miles didn’t lean in for a kiss when he dropped Tony off at the stable to pick up his car.

Tony finished off his week of studying and taking tests, and also had his regular Thursday and Friday lessons with Miles. On Thursday night, he felt exhausted and just went home after riding. On Friday, he agreed to do another carriage shift with Miles, including doing a bit more of the driving. After the Friday night shift, Miles took him out for pizza and beer.

Over the weekend, Tony had his extended lessons with Leslie and Lucy. He also drove downtown and watched the carriage horses making their rounds to see if Miles was there. He didn’t see the man downtown either day. Apparently, Lucy was right about Miles going fishing on the weekends, or at the very least, he wasn’t working that Tony could see.

Sleep was hard to come by for Tony on Sunday night. Joe Anderson was somewhat of a legend on the force and Tony was excited to get to meet him and spend some time working with him.

The following morning, Tony made a point of arriving early and scanning through his notes. His Corvette stood out in the parking lot. Most of the other mounted police officers apparently drove pickup trucks, SUVs, and occasionally a sedan was spotted. Tony’s was the only sports car in the lot.

When Joe arrived, Tony stood up so fast that he dropped his binder of notes to the dirt floor of the barn as he offered to shake Joe’s hand. The man smiled but said nothing as Tony scrambled to pick up his notes and tuck the binder under his arm. “So, what’s first?” he asked.

“Coffee,” was Joe’s curt response.

“Right,” said Tony as he trailed behind the older man, thinking him very much familiar, between his graying hair, blue eyes and steady gait. Joe took his coffee strong, black and piping hot, while Tony opted to doctor his up with creamer and sugar. “Is there any flavored creamer?” he asked. “I really love hazelnut.”

Joe glared at him silently and continued sipping his brew. Then he moved to the table, put on his reading glasses and began perusing the newspaper. Tony also sat down and reached for the sports page, before turning to the comics.

After a few minutes, Joe stood up, cleared his throat and washed his cup out in the sink before setting it in the drainage rack. Tony followed suit, then trailed behind Joe as he walked back into the barn. At the end of the hallway was a board where Joe pointed out the shift and assignment sheets.

“So you don’t ride the same horse all the time?”

“Not unless you want to and get Arty to agree. Always seems everyone likes the same horses the best, so Arty changes things up so we all get to ride our favorites, but then we end up taking turns with the others. They’re all decent horses.”

“What makes a horse everyone’s favorite?”

“Smooth ride, easy temperament. We’re going to put you up on Pan today.”

“Is that short for Peter Pan?” Tony asked.

“Short for Pancake. He’s our shortest horse, so he’s like a short stack of pancakes.”

When Joe led the way to Pan’s stall, Tony did see the horse was shorter than the other horses in the barn. He remembered Arty pointing the chestnut out, but he hadn’t explained the pancake part of his moniker. Arty had said Pan was part Quarter Horse and part Thoroughbred, known around the barn as the ‘Quarterbred’. “Aren’t the horses named before you get them?”

“Yeah, but we change some of them. It’s frowned upon for us to call any of the horses Demon, Diablo, Whisky, things like that. Pan was called Whisky before.”

“Gotcha.”

Pointing to a tall, black horse, Joe noted, “He was named Demon before. We call him Merlin.”

Eyeing the tall, black horse, Tony thought he looked similar to Beau, only Merlin had no white markings at all.

“The paint over there was originally Diablo. Now, he’s Amigo. We also have horses named Peanuts, Linus, Sweet Babboo and Red Baron all after the comic strip. Arty is quite the Peanuts fan.”

Looking around, Tony tried to match each of the horses with their name.

Joe nodded toward the tack room and Tony followed. Like Lucy’s stable, all the saddles and bridles had nearby labels noting which horse they belonged to. Instead of buckets, there were rows of metal ammo boxes. “Grab any of those,” said Joe. “Doesn’t really matter which.”

“All the same ammo?”

Joe chuckled. “You could say that.”

Back in the barn, Joe pointed to Pan’s stall and said, “Brush him down.”

“Where are the brushes?”

“In the box.”

Tony glanced down at the ammo box he was carrying. “Oh, okay.”

“When you’re done brushing him down, saddle him up.”

“Do you use cross ties?”

“Nothing so fancy here. We groom and saddle the horses in their stalls or you can tie them in the aisle with a lead line if you prefer.”

“Where do you put the horses when you’re cleaning their stall?”

“Depends on who is doing the cleaning. Some clean around the horse, and just move the horse around as needed. Others put a few horses into the paddock while they work on the stalls. Some guys just move the horse into a different stall, then put them back when they’re done.”

Tony groomed Pan, then saddled him up. By the time he led the horse out of his stall, he saw Joe was already waiting for him with a grand white horse. Tony remembered his name was Champ. “Shall I mount up?”

Pointing toward the door, Joe said, “Outside.”

“Did you serve in the Marines?” Tony ventured.

“Yep.”

“That explains a lot.”

Joe only glared at him again.

“Oh, it’s nothing bad. I have a friend who served is all. You remind me of him.”

“What’s his name?”

“Miles. Miles Benton. Said he served in Desert Storm.”

Joe thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Never heard of him.”

Before leaving the stables, Joe took Tony out to the riding ring and had him put Pan through his paces, even taking a few jumps.

“Not bad, kid,” said Joe. “You may be a little rusty, but you’re not too shabby at all.”

When Joe opened the gate, he nodded for Tony to come on out. They left the lot at a walk, riding side by side. Tony kept an eye on Joe, allowing him to lead. They kept the horses at a walk through a park, Joe always keeping a watchful eye around the area. Now and then, they would stop. Joe was always very friendly with any children who approached to ask questions.

Tony quickly learned that Joe wasn’t fond of chitchat or sports. He didn’t seem to mind questions about horses, guns or police procedures, so Tony tried to stick to those topics as much as possible.

At the end of the first day patrolling together, the pair returned to the barn, put their horses away, and finished up their reports in the office.

“You did okay, kid. I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Joe as they walked to the lot.

Over the next few days, Tony found that the mounted patrols mostly stuck to the parks, where they could ride freely, and were not confined to roads and pathways. While there wasn’t a lot of crime, they did chase down a handful of purse-snatchers, helped direct traffic, located a couple of children who had wandered away from their families, wrote up a few minor theft reports, foiled a couple of carjackings and also took several accident reports, mostly minor incidents.

It was certainly different than being a beat cop or driving a patrol car. The biggest difference was he had to care for his horse throughout the day. Although Joe explained the horses were all trained to stay put when they were tied or even if an officer dropped the reins, Tony still constantly checked on Pan when he was dismounted. Joe chided him a couple of times for being distracted when he should have been focusing more on the police work, especially when he was talking to witnesses or taking down a complaint.

At the end of the day, Joe told him he’d done a good job…for his first day. All in all, it didn’t seem like too bad of a job. Tony was certain he could make this work, even though in his heart, he still yearned to make detective one day.

Chapter Text

Tony spent two weeks working as Joe’s partner, then attended the man’s retirement party. While working with Joe, Tony’s day shift still allowed him to continue his weekday evening lessons with Miles. Once he was moved onto his own, his schedule fluctuated and always included the weekend days. Being a newbie with the mounted patrol he generally pulled the later shifts, which meant canceling most of his lessons. Not wanting to lose his connection with Miles, Tony arranged to take one-hour private lessons on each of his two off-duty weekdays. The arrangement suited Miles just fine.

For most shifts, Tony was partnered with Officer Kevin Wade, although with rotating shifts, he was occasionally paired with different officers. Four of Tony’s shifts were riding and one was remaining around the stable doing chores, while the other assigned officer was the on-duty supervisor.

During his barn day, Tony found that he had to feed all the horses, clean three stalls, and used a pitchfork to scoop the manure from all of them. After that, he cleaned and dusted around the building, scrubbed the kitchen and bathrooms, cleaned saddles and bridles. After lunch, he was allowed to exercise any of the horses he wanted to ride. He took that opportunity to get more familiar with the different horses and their quirks.

Like the other officers, he had his favorite mounts. Merlin reminded him of Beau, even under saddle. He learned the stunning black horse was a Friesian-Thoroughbred mix. The paint named Amigo was the fastest horse in the stable and was said to have been retired from barrel racing. The palomino Belgian called Sweet Baboo was a gentle giant with a smooth stride. Tony also was fond of the two dapple gray Percherons, Zeus and Prince. He learned that they had been paired up as carriage horses for weddings when they were younger, and had been purchased from the Briarwood farms. Red Baron was a red roan, part Clydesdale, who was a good, solid mount. Scout was a half-Clydesdale pinto, while Thor was a bay full-blooded Clydesdale. Tony found that all the horses were indeed decent horses, as Joe had told him previously.

Tony learned that they left the halters on beneath the bridles, and each officer brought along a lead line when they rode, so they could tie their horses up as needed. That was another reason for pairing up officers. The horses were never left unattended.

During his riding shifts, they often spotted carriages. On most days, Miles was nowhere to be seen, but occasionally, he did pull weekday or evening driving shift. He never drove a carriage on the weekends, having explained to Tony that those were the best money-making shifts. Many drivers only wanted to drive Friday night through Sunday night, which is why open shifts tended to crop up on Mondays through Thursdays.

Any time Tony was certain he saw Miles’ graying hair at a distance, he suggested to his partner that they patrol elsewhere, always keeping his distance from the carriage routes in hopes that Miles wouldn’t see and recognize him. And what would he say if the man saw him?

Tony felt he could explain knowing Miles as a friend from a local stable. He remembered telling Miles that he ran an attorney’s office. How would he explain being a cop riding mounted patrol? It wasn’t like the carriage rides, where he could say he was there for free training to see if it was something he wanted to do. No, the best option was to try to keep his distance and hope his two worlds would never collide.

Things went well for a couple more weeks. He met Miles at the stables for his lessons and often suggested they go out for dinner or drinks. He wound up declining any more carriage ride offers to ensure no one recognized him as one of the mounted patrol officers, and also so no patrol officers noticed him on a carriage. Despite Miles insisting that no one would care, Tony said he felt like he was taking advantage and getting free rides when he never intended to become a driver himself. He was still happy to spend a night or two with Miles going out to dinner or having drinks and a game of pool.

For his part, Tony was sure he’d maintained enough distance from the carriages whenever Miles was driving. After all, while he knew Miles was there, the other man had no idea Tony was in the area. And at a distance, he imagined all of the mounted officers all looked about the same as they wore matching uniforms, sunglasses and riding helmets, and had similar physical builds.

It occurred to him that he probably should end his lessons with Miles, but he found that he truly enjoyed the man’s company. He remembered that the man was once a sniper and still wanted to go to the rifle range with him, but felt it would have to wait until he had vacation time. He couldn’t go on a weekend morning and risk being late to work as the rifle ranges tended to be further out and he wasn’t sure how to bow out of a lunch invitation if Miles asked.

He found that most of the mounted officers were fairly likable, although a couple seemed to have a preference to play a live version of cowboy and robber a little too much. While they did handle a good share of minor crimes, the closest they got to a murder investigation was being called in for crowd and traffic control. Tony figured the news anchors heard more details on the murder case than the mounted patrol did. At least there was a television in the kitchen at the mounted patrol stables. Maybe he could catch up on the news when they returned to the barn.

Working during daylight hours was more fun and laid back. That’s when they were often approached by kids in the parks. The children always wanted to pet the horses, and learn their names, ages and histories. Tony asked the other officers for a full rundown and jotted down the notes to study when he wasn’t riding.

It didn’t take him long to learn all the horses’ different personalities. Some were rather playful, while others were all business, just like the officers who cared for them. Overall, Tony felt it was an enjoyable unit to work with. The only true downfall was that there wasn’t much room for advancement. Arty had held his position for over two decades and showed no hint of being ready to retire.

Most of the mounted officers loved their job and stuck with it for years, while a few did come and go. With the number of officers with seniority above him, Tony wasn’t sure he’d ever get the opportunity to be a shift supervisor. He couldn’t imagine the number of years he’d have to stick around to get that far up in the unit.

It was dark out on a Wednesday night when a call came over their radios. His partner, Kevin, was in a restaurant picking up carryout for the two of them when the transmission came through. Tony tied up Merlin and pushed the restaurant door open, shouting out, “Officer Wade, we have a call.” Nodding to the cashier, he added, “Just hold onto our order, we’ll be back to pick it up when we can.”

It happened from time to time. The restaurants in the area were very understanding that the officers were doing their duty. Most businesses would even toss out the original order and cook a fresh meal for the officers when they did return.

Within seconds, Kevin followed Tony outside, and they mounted up. Despite the noise inside the restaurant, Tony knew it was most likely that Kevin had heard the majority of the call, but had taken a few moments to explain to the cashier that he had to leave and would return later.

At least they were on the two fastest horses from the stables, Merlin and Amigo. The call that came in was a silent alarm from a nearby jewelry store. Tony had already radioed back that they were only two blocks away and would be there in a few moments.

It was late enough that traffic was fairly light. There were a few cars within view and Tony also noticed two carriages on the same street as the robbery location. Even as they galloped toward the shop, he could tell the nearest driver had Miles’ graying hair. There was no time to stop and worry if the man had seen him. Even with the street lamps, it wasn’t likely he could recognize Tony riding a black horse at night while wearing a dark uniform. He had more to worry about than Miles at the moment. It was just happenstance that the carriage Miles was driving was between them and the jewelry store. Tony had no other option than to ride within a few feet of it.

He and his partner could see the jewelry store’s main sign had been turned off a bit earlier than normal. Most likely the robbers had the manager shut off the lit sign in hopes that people would think the store was closed for the night. As the officers came close to the store, they slowed the horses down and saw two suspects in ski masks running out of the establishment, each with a gun in his hand.

Tony quickly grabbed his radio, advising dispatch that they had the two suspects in view, and weapons were drawn.

The moment Tony got the radio call out, Kevin nodded to him, then drew his weapon, pointing it at the perpetrators as he shouted, “Police, freeze!”

The two robbers turned and instantly began firing at them.

First, Kevin almost instantly drooped in the saddle, then Amigo took a few more steps and Kevin fell to the pavement. Tony looked toward the gunmen, fired a few rounds, then saw they were getting into a dark compact. As the car sped off, Tony glanced down at Kevin, then aimed and fired at the vehicle, blowing out the rear window.

The next thing he knew, Miles had leapt down from the carriage, grabbed Kevin’s weapon and shot out the car’s two rear tires. The driver lost control of the car and crashed into a parked vehicle.

“What the hell are you doing?” Tony yelled. “You can’t do that!”

Miles pointed at the car as the two suspects and their driver bailed out of the vehicle and started running toward the nearby park. “Let’s get after them!” he called as he grabbed Amigo’s reins.

Tony looked down at his partner lying in the street and quickly dismounted when he saw that Kevin was bleeding from a neck wound. Digging into his saddle bag’s first aid kit, Tony grabbed a wad of gauze and pressed it against Kevin’s neck within a couple of seconds. “He’s hurt! He’s bleeding!”

Kevin placed his hand over the gauze, holding it in place, and pointed into the park. “Go, Tony! Go get them! I will be fine! Don’t let them get away!” he choked out as he stared up at the sky above them.

Tony hesitated just a moment, but a woman stepped forward. She’d been driving down the street and saw Officer Wade drop to the ground. “I’m a nurse,” she said. “I will take care of him. I’ve already called for an ambulance. They’re on the way.”

“Don’t let them get away!” Kevin continued waving toward the park. “Get after them. You can do this, Tony! Merlin can catch them easily. Go on! I’ll be fine. Go!”

Miles was already in Amigo’s saddle. “I have them in view,” he said as he pointed into the trees. “We can get them. Let’s ride!”

He took off before Tony was mounted up. Tony shook his head as he quickly reloaded his weapon. After he pulled himself up into the saddle, he set Merlin into a gallop. He could tell Miles was going fast enough to gain ground on the suspects who were on foot, but was holding Amigo back enough that Merlin could easily catch up.

They could hear sirens in the distance, knowing multiple patrol cars and an ambulance were on their way. Tony called out the name of the park into his radio and asked for the squad cars to surround it, focusing on the far side where the suspects were headed on foot.

When he caught up with Amigo, Tony grabbed the horse’s reins and pulled both mounts to a stop. “Miles, I’ll explain everything later, I promise. But I can’t endanger a civilian’s life by letting you chase after two armed assailants!”

Miles pulled Amigo’s reins loose from Tony’s grip, and said, “I’m a federal agent, Tony. Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. I’m working undercover investigating Dennis Hayward. You know I can ride and you know I can shoot. Let’s get these guys! For your partner.”

Tony let the words soak in for a second. Miles was a federal agent? “What? You’re a what?”

“I’ve known you were a cop since you did a background check on me and it flagged with NCIS. Let’s do this. Come on!” With that, Gibbs nudged Amigo back into a canter.

Tony raced after him on Merlin and watched as the suspect who had shot Kevin began shooting at Gibbs. Tony fired back to distract the shooter as Gibbs maneuvered Amigo closer and jumped onto the robber, tackling him to the ground. Now riderless, Amigo stopped a short distance away, dropped his head and nibbled on the grass as Gibbs held the perpetrator pinned down.

Tony turned his attention to the other robber and returned fire when that assailant shot at him. The suspect stumbled and fell in the darkness and began feeling around on the ground, so Tony was certain he’d lost his weapon when he fell. Galloping Merlin as close as he dared, Tony then jumped off the horse and wrestled the perpetrator facedown, and slapped his cuffs on him. Using the lead line he carried to tie Merlin, Tony used it to secure the suspect’s arm to a tree, figuring that with his wrists cuffed behind his back, he wouldn’t be able to undo the knot.

Remounting Merlin, he raced back to where Gibbs was holding the first shooter down on the ground. Dismounting quickly, Tony leapt on top of the assailant’s legs, helping to subdue him. Then he called on his radio directing the patrol officers to where they were in the park, so they could bring another pair of handcuffs and officers who could take custody of the two suspects and drive them to the precinct. He also gave a description and location of the driver who was still on the loose. Minutes later, he heard over the radio that the female driver had been apprehended as well.

After other officers approached on foot and handcuffed the first suspect, they began escorting him back to a patrol car. Tony and Gibbs searched the ground until they recovered the shooter’s weapon and turned it over as well. Together, they returned to where Tony had left the other robber handcuffed and tied to a tree. Tony retrieved his lead line and handed custody of the perpetrator to another officer. With the help of two more officers, they searched the ground with flashlights until they recovered that man’s weapon as well.

Their next task was to round up Amigo and Merlin, but like the other police horses, they were both trained to stay put if their rider bailed, or dropped the reins, so they were easy to catch again. After checking both horses for any possible injuries, the pair remounted the horses, and then galloped back to where Kevin had been left with the nurse.

They were still a distance away, when Tony recognized another pair of mounted officers who were on the scene as Thor and Red Baron were standing nearby. At about the same time, he noticed two other officers approaching on the matching dapple-gray horses, Zeus and Prince.

Two squad cars had blocked off the street, but the ambulance had been allowed in. Tony rode up and dismounted before Merlin came to a stop. The expressions on the faces of the other mounted cops on the scene were disturbing.

“How’s Kevin doing?” Tony asked as he noticed the nurse was still there, her hands covered with Kevin’s blood. He could tell by the sadness in her eyes that Kevin hadn’t survived. “No. No!” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Officer Carmichael handed Thor’s reins to his partner and put his hands on Tony’s shoulders. “He was barely holding on when we got here. He couldn’t speak. There was just too much blood loss and he quietly faded away. The bullet probably nicked his artery. The nurse and the EMTs did everything they could, but it wasn’t enough.”

Tony dropped his eyes to the ground and gathered his thoughts. The image of Kevin lying injured on the pavement replayed in his mind. The blood oozing from his neck wouldn’t stop; it just flowed out and turned the street red beneath his still body.

Gibbs wrapped an arm around Tony’s shoulder. “Let’s get the horses back to the stable. There’s nothing more you can do here, and I know they’re going to keep you at the precinct until you get your report done tonight.”

Tony fell silent but nodded. The other mounted officers seemed confused when Gibbs remounted Amigo and waited next to Tony. “He’s okay,” Tony said softly as he settled himself into Merlin’s saddle. No one questioned it further.

Tony noticed that the couple who had been in the carriage that Gibbs had been driving were now being questioned by officers and there was another carriage driver standing next to the horses. “Where did the other carriage driver come from?”

“When I saw what was happening, I set the brake on the carriage and tied the reins short. I yelled to the carriage driver behind me that I had to go help, and they should get another driver to come get my carriage and take it back to the barn.”

“They still don’t know you’re NCIS?” he asked as they allowed the horses to walk back toward the mounted patrol’s barn on a loose rein.

“That’s kind of the point of me working undercover. They know I work out at the stable with Lucy and can obviously handle a horse. They’ll just think I’m helping you because I can ride and served with the Marines.”

“Sense of duty,” Tony said as he nodded. “And they won’t care that you ditched a carriage mid-ride?”

“Helping you was more important. Are you going to be okay?” Gibbs asked.

“I can’t believe Kevin’s gone. Just like that.”

“Unlucky shot, but that’s the risk we all take.”

Looking over to Gibbs, Tony said, “You were awesome. The way you tackled the guy as you leapt from the saddle. That was amazing, like John Wayne amazing.”

“You did a great job firing cover shots. You kept the guy’s attention off me so I could take him down.”

“At least all three of them were caught and will be in jail tonight.”

“And most likely, for the rest of their lives,” said Gibbs. “You have a pretty tight case on them all, and we recovered the weapons. One of them killed a cop. He’s not going to get away with it.”

“And the others are just as guilty by association and will be held accountable. I’ll make sure of that.”

As they reached the barn, they found two patrol cars had already beat them there, with the officers standing outside of their vehicles speaking with Bruce, the on-duty supervisor for the mounted officers. Tony could tell by his demeanor he’d already heard the news about Kevin.

“I did everything I could,” Tony began. “I would have stayed with him, but he told me to go chase the suspects. He said he’d be fine. And there was a nurse on the scene and an ambulance on the way.”

“DiNozzo, you did the right thing,” Bruce assured him. “I heard you caught the shooter.”

Dismounting in the lot, Tony held onto Merlin’s reins and pointed to Gibbs. “Actually, he shot out the tires on the suspects’ car, forcing them to run on foot and he’s the one who tackled Kevin’s shooter and held onto him until I chased down and cuffed the other suspect.”

Bruce stared at Gibbs, noting the jeans and polo shirt. “You part of the force?”

“Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. I’ve been working undercover on a case, but I saw Tony needed some backup.”

“Well, we certainly appreciate your help and hope we didn’t blow your cover.”

“It’s fine. My case was pretty much wrapped up anyway. I can stick around as long as I’m needed to debrief or whatever.”

One of the patrol officers eyed Tony’s weapon, and said, “We heard you fired your weapon. We were sent to collect it for ballistics testing.”

“Yeah, sure,” Tony said as he removed the weapon from his holster and handed it over.

“This was the other officer’s weapon,” said Gibbs, as he handed over Kevin’s handgun. “I took it to keep it secure. And this is my weapon,” he added as he handed over his own. “I shot out the tires with Officer Wade’s gun, but took a few shots with my Colt as well.”

“We’ll need you both to come down to the precinct and talk to the homicide detectives. If you rather wait until morning, that’s fine, but they will need to take statements from both of you.”

Tony nodded.

Bruce patted him on the back and said, “We can take care of Merlin and Amigo, if you want to go now.”

Sighing deeply, Tony stroked the black horse’s neck. “If it’s all the same with everyone, I’d like to put them up. And I have a report to write while it’s still all fresh in my mind.”

“I can help if you’d like,” offered Gibbs.

They walked side-by-side into the barn. Tony stopped and looked at Amigo. “I think I’d like to put Amigo away if you don’t mind.”

“I understand,” said Gibbs as he offered over the paint’s reins and took Merlin’s.

Tony pointed at Merlin’s stall, then took Amigo into his own. By that time, Jeff and Mike had returned on Prince and Zeus. When Gibbs had unsaddled Merlin and stepped back into the main aisle, Jeff waved for him to follow and led the way to the tack room. Gibbs returned to Amigo’s stall to find Tony just standing there, stroking the horse’s long nose and neck.

Gibbs grabbed the tack Tony had set aside and put it away before returning to the stall, seeing Tony still standing there, his head pressed against Amigo’s neck. “I’ll go with you whenever you’re ready.”

Finally looking up, Tony nodded. After saying a somber good night to the other mounted officers, Tony led the way over to his car.

“I can drive if you want,” Gibbs said.

“Yeah, sure,” Tony replied, tossing his keys to Gibbs. Taking the passenger seat, he provided directions to the precinct.

The pair spent the next several hours being interviewed separately by homicide detectives. Gibbs was glad the precinct was fully stocked on coffee, even if it wasn’t his preferred brand.

Tony mostly sat quietly, dejected. While he gave a full report, his thoughts often strayed to his fallen partner. He wondered if he could have done anything more to save Kevin’s life, but was told by the detectives that it wouldn’t have made a difference if he had remained at his side.

“You and Agent Gibbs caught the shooter. That wouldn’t have happened if you had stayed behind. The doctor said there was nothing that could have saved Officer Wade’s life. The bullet nicked his main artery. Even if it happened at the hospital, he wouldn’t have survived the wound,” one of the detectives assured him.

It was two o’clock in the morning before they were allowed to go. Gibbs still had the keys to Tony’s car. He took the wheel and drove for over an hour while Tony sat quietly in the passenger seat, lost in his thoughts.

Arriving back at his own house, Gibbs patted Tony’s knee. “I didn’t know your address. You’re welcome to bunk with me tonight. It’s probably best that you’re not alone right now.”

Turning his head, Tony looked at the house they’d stopped in front of. “Is this where you rent a room?” he asked softly.

“No. That undercover job is done. Other NCIS agents are making the arrests and bringing everyone in for questioning. I’m sure they’ll send a team to clear out my rented room. This is my house.” Gibbs pulled the Corvette into the driveway and parked it. “Let’s go in. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Tony followed Gibbs inside, and gently pushed the door closed behind them. Gibbs immediately went over to the fireplace and lit the kindling that was already set up. “Are you hungry?”

Tony remembered back to the restaurant. Kevin had gone in to order food for them both, but that was before the robbery call came in. They’d had to abandon their meal to chase down the bad guys. That had been hours ago, around seven o’clock. Twisting his wrist, he saw it was nearing three in the morning. “I guess I should eat.”

Gibbs nodded as the flames began licking around the log. “I have a steak ready to cook for dinner. We can split that.”

Taking a seat on the couch, Tony held his head in his hands. “Okay.”

“I know it’s really hard losing someone you work with.”

“Have you?”

“A couple with NCIS. Several more with the Marines.”

“You saw real action in Desert Storm?”

“Yeah, I did. Took a couple of hits myself, but survived. Made it home and found out that my wife and daughter had died in a car accident.”

“Oh wow, I’m so sorry.”

“I blamed myself for being away. I blamed myself that they were in California instead of DC. I couldn’t stay with the Marines. The agent who investigated their deaths suggested I apply with NIS, which later became NCIS.”

“Mounted patrol was supposed to be mostly a PR gig. It was supposed to be easy, literally just a ride in the park. We have never lost an officer from the mounted patrol before, ever.”

Gibbs set up a grate in the fireplace, and let it heat up before putting the steak on to cook. Settling on the couch beside Tony, he said, “It can be a dangerous job. Most will survive. A few won’t. The shooter probably was just firing in your direction. I doubt he was aiming.”

“It was still a fatal shot.”

“Yeah. And those three kids are probably all going to go to jail for the rest of their lives. It’s not a happy ending for anyone.”

“I should have stayed with him. I should have been there when he died.”

“I spoke to the nurse. She said the two officers on the bays had arrived right after we left. They stopped to help and were with him when he passed. He wasn’t alone.”

“I was his partner. I should have stayed with him and waited for backup.”

“No, you should have chased down the shooter. He shot and killed a police officer. Do you think for one second that he would have hesitated to take out any civilian who got in his way? No. We had to get him off the street so no one else would get hurt. You did your job.”

“I guess. At least someone was with him. I remember Jason said Kevin couldn’t form any words by the time they got there, but he seemed to recognize them.”

“One of them was about to come to see if we needed help when he heard the call that we had the suspects in custody. At least there isn’t a cop killer on the loose,” Gibbs said as he got up to flip the steak, then went into the kitchen to retrieve a couple of plates and some silverware.

“I’m glad you were there. I don’t think I could have gotten them both. Heck, if you hadn’t shot out the tires, they probably would have driven into the darkness and would have gotten away.”

“Well, they’re all in custody now and will be going to jail once the detectives are done talking to them.” When he pulled the steak off the grill, he used his knife to cut it in half and set a chunk onto the other plate, which he handed to Tony. “I hope you’re not too upset with me. I had to keep my identity need-to-know, and you really didn’t.”

“I can’t believe you knew I was a cop the whole time.”

“Not the whole time. Only since you ran a background check on me.”

Tony smiled weakly. “Which was after about two lessons. So you knew since then?”

“Maybe a day or two later. My undercover ID was set up so any searches would ping back to NCIS. They looked into it, found out that you were a cop, then reached out to me to let me know.”

“So the entire time we hung out, you knew? At the shooting range?”

“Yeah, I knew by then,” Gibbs said with a chuckle. “You’re a good shot, DiNozzo.”

“Thanks. I was totally impressed with your shooting skills. I’d still like to go out to the rifle range with you sometime. Can I ask what your case was? The one you went undercover for?”

“We had a tip that Dennis Hayward was running drugs and weapons, and using his wife’s stable and the carriage rides to launder the money.”

“Let me guess. Her brother Ryan is involved?”

“Yep. Dennis had the connections to bring it in. Apparently, some of the carriage drivers sell dope on the side. I saw a lot of people coming and going around the carriage barn.”

“The alarm system seemed a bit high tech for a stable.”

“Dennis had the stuff brought in, then he’d drop it off with Ryan to distribute it.”

“Pretty cold that he used his own sister to launder the money.”

“Yeah, he always was kind of an asshole. That’s truly a shame because Lucy is the nicest lady.”

“Maybe you can ask her out. Console her.”

Shaking his head, Gibbs said. “No, that wouldn’t work out. I’m already busy consoling you.”

“Yeah, I don’t have time to date much either,” Tony confessed.

“You made time to spend with me. When it’s important, you make the time.”

Setting down his plate, Tony said, “I really did enjoy spending time with you.”

Gibbs laced his fingers with Tony’s. “It doesn’t need to stop.”

Tony’s eyes grew wide. “You’d be interested? In me?”

Gibbs nodded, then leaned in for a kiss. “Maybe we’re both ready for a new partner. And if you ever get tired of the mounted patrol, I could put in a good word for you at NCIS.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Of course. I work on the major crimes team. Our director, Tom Morrow, seems to like me. I’ll take you to meet him if you ever decide you want to make a career change.”

“Deal,” Tony said. “Do you have a guest room, or should I crash on the couch?”

“It’s late. Plenty of room in the bed, partner.”

Chapter Text

A few days later, Tony stopped by Arty’s office at the precinct and knocked softly on the door. “Sir, may I ask a question?”

Arty scrubbed his hands over his face. He’d barely slept since Officer Wade had been killed. Despite knowing his shooter was behind bars, it was still unsettling to have lost one of his officers in the line of duty. Waving Tony inside, he said, “Yes, Officer DiNozzo, how can I help you? Did you want to speak at the funeral?”

“No, not really. I’d only worked with him for a couple of weeks. I’m sure one of the other officers would be much more eloquent.”

“What can I do for you?” asked Arty as he indicated Tony should have a seat.

Once he sat down, Tony nervously cleared his throat. “It’s a…sort of a favor, I suppose.”

“Go on.”

“I thought it would be a kind gesture to…um. To allow Special Agent Gibbs to ride Amigo for the ceremony. He was the one who tackled the shooter.”

Arty sat thoughtfully quiet for a couple of minutes as he considered the request. “That’s a great idea, Tony. Yes, if he is agreeable, it would be an honor to include him.”

“We’re about the same size, so I thought he could wear one of my uniforms, with his NCIS badge in view.”

“Excellent.”

On the day of the funeral, Tony picked Gibbs up and drove him to the church. There was a temporary paddock pieced together with crowd barriers and all sixteen of the mounted police horses and several others were groomed, saddled and ready to ride. Each one was tied to the railing. The mounted officers were gathering to the side of the paddock.

Tony found a parking spot on the far side of the barrier fencing. It was still early. The pair was already dressed to ride, their boots polished to a shine. Like the other officers, they both had a black band across their badge.

“Thank you for doing this,” said Tony.

“I appreciate you including me. I’m surprised, but it is an honor.”

“Surprised?”

With a wave of his hand, he indicated the group of mounted police officers standing around. “There are obviously more mounted officers than horses. I’m surprised they’re allowing me to take a horse.”

“If you notice, they have a few extra horses. Our barn only has sixteen horses. There have to be close to forty horses here. Some of the retired mounted police officers will be riding, and a few who are still active that transferred out of the department.”

Looking around Gibbs noticed the extra horse trailers. A couple of them bore the name ‘Briarwood’. Looking closer, they began to recognize some of the lesson horses from Lucy’s stable. A moment later, they spotted Lucy herself checking Misty’s tack.

Tony tugged at Gibbs’ arm. “Let’s go say hello.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Gibbs said hesitantly. Neither man had been to the stables since he was pulled from his undercover assignment and arrested both Dennis Hayward and Ryan Briarwood.

“It will be weird if we don’t. It’s not like we can stand here for over an hour and pretend we don’t see her or her trailers. Or her horses.”

Nodding slowly, Gibbs agreed.

When they approached her, Tony spoke first. “I just want to say that I’m truly sorry about everything.”

While there was sorrow in her eyes, she smiled at them and even stepped forward and hugged them both. “I was hoping I would see you here. I’m so heartbroken that one of your officers was killed. When Arty called asking if I could loan him a few horses for the procession, well, I’m glad I can help.”

Glancing back at all the horses, Tony said, “So he borrowed horses so all the mounted officers could ride and honor Kevin. Arty’s really great.”

“Yeah, he is,” Lucy agreed. “He and my father grew up together and went to school together. They used to show horses together as teens.”

“Oh wow. He never mentioned that.”

Gibbs cleared his throat before speaking. “I’m sorry for deceiving you. But I was just doing my job.”

Lucy shook her head. “Don’t be sorry, please. Ryan always seemed to be in trouble as a kid. My parents did everything for him; gave him every chance in the world. When he got his degree in business, he asked if he could run the carriage stable downtown. He introduced me to Dennis, who was the most charming guy when we met. But once we got married, things changed. It wasn’t a happy marriage. It was more like two strangers sharing a house.”

“I am very sorry,” said Tony.

“My attorney has already filed divorce documents with the court. I know this may sound strange, but I truly appreciate that you found out what they were doing. I’ve wanted out of the marriage for a while, but couldn’t pin down what the problem was. Now I know.”

Tony shifted slightly. “The law will be on your side, with him being in prison and all. I hope you won’t have to pay for his attorney or anything.”

“I won’t. My parents never liked him. Dad called him a ‘slick bastard’. He made sure, or rather, he insisted that I have Dennis sign an ironclad pre-nuptial agreement. We did. And next time, I’ll find a man that meets my father’s approval before I get married again.”

“Good for you. I’m sorry you had to deal with all that, but at least you know now and can move forward.”

“Thank you, Tony. I really can’t repay the two of you for bringing to light what Dennis and Ryan were up to. I know it’s not much, but I want you both to know that you’re welcome out at the stable. If you ever want to ride. You know the horses and where the tack is. Feel free to come out and ride any Sunday, no charge.”

“Are you sure?” Gibbs asked.

“Yes, yes, of course. I had no idea you two were law enforcement. You really could make a living as a carpenter, Miles. I’m sorry, I know that’s not your real name.”

“Gibbs. Jethro Gibbs.”

She looked at Tony questioningly. “And?”

“I really am Tony DiNozzo. And I was truly there to learn to ride. I had no idea Gibbs was a federal agent either. He fooled everyone.”

“Oh? So you two didn’t know each other before?”

“No. Never laid eyes on each other. I’d been assigned to the mounted patrol and really wanted to brush up on my riding skills,” Tony explained. “I made up the story about my boss because, well, some people don’t really like cops.”

“Well, I do. And you’re both truly welcome to come out on ride any Sunday. I’ll let my staff know.”

Gibbs nodded. “Very generous of you. Thank you. And maybe if you don’t mind, I can do a little carpentry on the side, just to keep things shipshape.”

“I would never ask, but that would be wonderful. None of the other handymen I’ve hired were even half as good as you.”

Arty came their way and said hello to Lucy, thanking her for the loan of the extra horses, then said it was time for everyone to go inside for the service.

Lucy, along with a few other horse owners who had trailered in their horses to be used for the event remained outside, along with a few regular officers who were watching over the cars and horses. Several hundred people had gathered for the service and there clearly was not enough room inside for everyone. There were a few monitors and several speakers set up outside for those who couldn’t fit inside the church. Officers lined the streets as far as one could see, each with a black band over his badge.

Gibbs joined the mounted patrol in a special reserved section up front, across the aisle from Officer Wade’s widow, children and other friends and family members. Everyone stood up as the casket was rolled into the church up to the front. Arty and a couple of the other mounted officers went up front to speak.

Tony looked around at the pictures of Kevin that were displayed. Some were clearly provided by his family, but his official police portrait was on display along with a few candid images of him as a mounted police officer. Tony recognized many of the horses in the photos.

When the service ended, the casket was rolled down the main aisle again, followed by the immediate family, and then the mounted police officers. As the family members were ushered into a limousine and the casket was loaded into a horse-drawn hearse, the mounted officers went into the makeshift paddock, found their assigned horses, checked their bridles and girths, then mounted up.

Arty and Frank had arrived early and had ensured the horses were staged in the exact order they were going to ride in. They had made certain they had enough loaned horses that everyone would have a mount for the procession.

Arty and Frank led the procession on Linus and Sweet Babboo, the palomino Belgians, followed by Tony on Merlin and Gibbs on Amigo. Tony and Arty had discussed it and agreed it would be fitting as those were the horses Tony and Kevin were riding on the last patrol. The officers rode two-by-two out to the cemetery and most remained atop their horse during the graveside service. Behind them were scores of patrol cars in a long procession.

The mounted officers were directed to a certain spot for the graveside service. A couple of officers dismounted when their borrowed horses became fidgety, and held them tightly during the twenty-one gun salute. Occasionally one of the horses would stomp or paw at the ground, but they were mostly well behaved through the prayers and the bagpipe player in a full kilt who played three songs.

Once the service ended, the mounted officers resumed their two-by-two formation and returned to the makeshift paddock at the church, where they each unsaddled their horse, and helped to put away gear and get the horses loaded back into their trailers. After the horses were loaded up, the officers remained on site for several more minutes consoling each other and telling stories about Kevin.

Joe Anderson had made the rounds with the other officers and finally approached Gibbs and Tony, greeting them each with a handshake. “How are you holding up, Rookie?” he asked, his voice tinted with concern.

“Hanging in there. I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything more for Kevin.”

“You chased down the guy who pulled the trigger. Believe me, it is a comfort to us all that he’s been in jail since that night. I’m glad you got him so quickly.”

Indicating Gibbs, at his side, Tony said, “Actually, he’s the one who tackled the shooter. Special Agent…”

“Leroy Jethro Gibbs,” said Joe, with a smile. “How the hell have you been, Gunny?”

“Been good, Joe. Glad I was there and able to help. How are Stella and the kids?”

“Stella is happy I finally retired. She’s ready to move to Florida. I’ll let Max know I saw you.”

“I appreciate that.”

Confusion played on Tony’s face. “Have you two met?” Turning to Joe, he said, “You said you’d never heard of him.”

“Gibbs? Yeah, I’ve known Gibbs for years. I had no idea you two knew each other. You’ve never asked me about Gibbs.”

“Right. It was Miles! I asked you about Miles Benton.”

Shaking his head, Joe confirmed, “Never heard of Miles Benton. Gibbs and I have crossed paths a few times over the years. He served with my kid brother, Max.”

“It is good to see you, Joe,” said Gibbs. “Even though the circumstances are sad.”

“Likewise, Gunny.”

Tony drove Gibbs back to his house, where they both changed into jeans and T-shirts before going out to the diner for a bite to eat.

“Well, that was all sad,” said Tony.

“It happens. When are they putting you back to work?”

“I’m still on administrative leave for a while. And I’m still waiting to get my weapon back.”

“I’d like to get my Colt back, too.”

“Soon. They keep telling me, ‘soon’.”

“Are you planning to stick with the mounted patrol?” asked Gibbs.

Picking up a French fry, Tony inspected it before dragging it through a puddle of ketchup. “It was always my dream to be a detective, not Dudley Do-Right. I’ve been thinking about looking elsewhere.”

Gibbs carefully chewed his sandwich and swallowed. “Yeah? Where are you thinking about looking?”

“Someone promised to introduce me to Tom Morrow, director of NCIS.”

Gibbs’ eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

“You did offer. Didn’t you mean it?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, of course. I’ll set it up. Glad to.”

Tony and Gibbs did take Lucy up on her offer of a Sunday ride, opting to take Misty and Honey out for a trail ride.

The following day, with Tony still on administrative leave with the police department, he followed behind Gibbs on the way to NCIS headquarters and accompanied him up to the director’s office.

Gibbs had already given a full report of the shooting incident in Baltimore to the director, so Tom was intrigued by the visit from the police officer involved with the case. Even though Gibbs had been involved, the case was not under NCIS jurisdiction.

When they were shown into the office, Director Morrow was sitting behind his desk and motioned toward the conference table. Gibbs and Tony had each taken a seat before Tom came around the desk to join them.

“Officer DiNozzo, it is a pleasure to meet you. That was quite a tale Gibbs shared with me the other day.”

Standing up momentarily, Tony reached out and shook the director’s hand. “Thank you, sir. I couldn’t have done it without him.”

“How can NCIS further assist? I will ensure Gibbs is available for court dates as needed. Just say the word.”

Tony glanced at Gibbs, then turned back to Morrow. “It’s always been my dream to be a detective, an investigator. I don’t feel the mounted patrol will provide the case experience I would need to move up in the Baltimore police force.”

“Probably not,” Tom agreed. “I imagine this shooting is a rare occurrence for the mounted patrol.”

“Yeah, Kevin was our first mounted officer in Baltimore ever killed in the line of duty.”

“And I gather you’re feeling that maybe the mounted division is not where your heart lies?”

Tony took in a deep breath, released it slowly, then shook his head. “No, not really. Gibbs mentioned you might have an opening for an investigator at NCIS.”

“We’d be glad to have you.” Turning to Gibbs, Tom said, “What are you doing up here? Take him down to the HR department and get the man an application.”

Standing up suddenly, Gibbs offered his hand to the director. “I’ll see to it.”

After filling out all the forms, Tony returned to the bullpen and looked up Gibbs. “So do I get to hang out for a free training day?”

“Sure, if you want to. You can leave if you get bored. I’m just clearing out some files and wrapping up some paperwork for cases we just closed.”

At the end of the shift, Tony followed Gibbs over to the diner for a meatloaf dinner. Gibbs teased him that they should have driven in together if Tony was planning to stay for his full shift.

“I wasn’t. But it was interesting. I hope I pass the audition.”

Wiping his hands on the napkin, Gibbs assured him, “This is all a technicality. Tom’s already approved hiring you based on my recommendation and your PD file.”

“He already has my PD file?”

“Well, sure, DiNozzo. He had Pacci pull it when you backgrounded Miles Benton. He wanted to know who you were and why you were looking into my alias.”

Tony smiled. “I think I’m going to like working at NCIS.”

“I’m guessing you’re not going to want to commute from Baltimore every day. You’re welcome to stay at my place as long as you want. Or forever even.”

“Seriously?” Tony asked as he took a moment to think about it. “Yeah, I’d like that! Why should I waste my time looking for an overpriced apartment when everything I could possibly want is at your place?”

“Exactly!”

The pair bumped shoulders as they walked back to their vehicles after dinner. Tony trailed behind Gibbs over to the pickup truck. With Gibbs in the driver’s seat, he rolled down the window, as Tony leaned his arm on the top of the door.

“So this is your real pickup?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, the other one was from the impound lot.”

“It’s not still sitting in the carriage stable’s parking lot, is it?”

Gibbs chuckled. “No. I called in that night and they sent a couple of agents to retrieve it, for Miles.”

“The truck is really you; old, battered, gray, but with a tiger under the hood,” said Tony.

“Who are you calling old?”

As their eyes met, Tony leaned into the open window and kissed Gibbs on the lips. “Can’t wait to start this next chapter of my life.”

“Let’s get back to the house and start writing the story.”

“I wouldn’t want to miss a single word,” Tony said, as he leaned in for another kiss before returning to his car.

~END~
08/07/2020

© 2020 by Jacie