Change of Plans [[Seb+Anthony]]

[Alex Chasse]

It has been over three years since Alessandra Ambrosio died. Over 4 years since Alex Chasse had moved to Pinewood, West Virginia. Alex had first moved here to get a fresh start away from her dad, and to build up her own business. Take one horse and turn him into a champion. Prove to her father that she could be better than any boy and make him see that she wasn’t weak. She was going to start from the dirt and shock the entire racing world. Win races, become a well known trainer, and make her own decisions. She had the money and the ambition… she just needed the right horse and then the clientele. Once she got that she would be set. Of course she planned for somewhere in there to meet the right guy get married probably not have kids but she would think about it given the right situation. She had her whole life planned out just how it would go… down to the T. But, as everyone knows, plans change…

Plans, they don’t always fall into place just the way one would imagine. You think to yourself that maybe your life will be like the fairytale and you’ll meet your future significant other in some big show of romance. Ten years down the road you’re telling your kids that you met their other parent at a bar because they puked all over you. No child wants to hear that story. Plans, they just don’t fall into place the way we all want them to.

Alex had her whole life planned out when she moved to Pinewood, West Virginia. Three years after she moved there her best friend seeks her out and tells her she is pregnant. Very pregnant. A few months later Alex is standing at Ale’s bedside praying to a God, she didn’t believe in, hoping that by some miracle her best friend would live. Unfortunately there was only one miracle that day… and that was the little bundle that Sebastian was holding in the pediatric wing of the hospital. Caiden was the spitting image of Sebastian, his father.

Sebastian was… well he was a bit of a player and that basically sums up why Alessandra was pregnant with his child… while he was married to Chey. It was a rather large mess. One that took Alex a long time to forgive him for. And to be perfectly honest she wasn’t sure if she really had. In the beginning she blamed Sebastian for Ale’s death. Before Ale had died they all learned how to work together… as best as they could given the situation anyway. And after a while she let that go and came to the conclusion that Caiden’s well-being was most important and Ale would want her to be a part of his life. So she made friends with Chey even though she wasn’t a big fan of her in the beginning either. But she was being rash and rude in the beginning. Could you blame her? She had just lost her best friend and yet they got the happily ever after family… Well not really later on Alex realized it wasn’t that easy for them either.

Now three years later they were all getting along again. Alex wasn’t really sure why she was sticking around anymore… her business was holding up strong despite that whole mess. She was sure Caiden was okay. So there was nothing holding her back anymore. But then she got word that Sebastian was going to hire a trainer for the racing side of the stables and try to grow that aspect of the business. Alex had high hopes… she was sure that he would hire her. Why wouldn’t he? They were friends he knew she was good at her job. So she figured she had it in the bag… But as time went on and he never asked she began to wonder… And then this happened.

Alex stood fuming in Sebastian’s office… her red hair totally making sense now. Arms crossed, Alex tried to figure out how Sebastian possibly thought this was okay or a good idea. She waited for him to come in and sit down at his desk. She stood on the other side glaring across his desk at him, refusing to sit down. “You know…. I just….” She struggled with a good way to start off in a calm manner. “What the hell Sebastian!?” Skipping the calm all together she tossed her hands in the air and yelled. “Did you forget that I train horses for a living or did you just not care to consider me at all?” Then she started pacing the small room. “After all I’ve… We’ve been through… and I thought we were friends…” Again struggling to find the right words… which was odd for her. Alex always knew what she wanted to say… but now she was so frustrated and angry… she was at a loss. “What the hell are you trying to pull?!” She looked across the desk at him in complete bewilderment and waited for him to respond.

[Sebastian Kings]

Does she have to clean up everywhere? Sebastian muttered to himself as he struggled to find anything in his barn office. His wife Chey was a bit of a neat freak. Sebastian certainly didn't mind if she cleaned the house, the barn and the rest of the stables to perfection but when her tornado of cleanliness and organization twisted its way into his office he just couldn't locate anything. Now Sebastian didn't make a big mess. He liked to call it organized chaos. Everything might not be exactly where it's supposed to be, but he knew where it all was. He searched through his drawers to find Tyler Bridges file. The boy's mother had cancelled last minute due to a sudden case of stomach flu. So, Sebastian had an hour to himself. Sebastian eased into his chair and marked down the absence on Tyler's file before sticking it back into the newly alphabetically marked filing system.

Something must be bothering her.. Sebastian thought to himself as he sifted through ads Chey had complied for new lesson horses. Chey was a stress cleaner. Sebastain came across a Quarter pony he liked the looks of and a big bay warmblood he thought might be a nice replacement for Vincent in the advanced students classes. Vince was ready to downgrade to the adult-beginners category. Sebastian was a little unnerved at the prospect of his faithful lesson mounts aging, many would soon need to be retired completely from his lesson string. This tugged a little on the heart strings, many of these horses have been with Pinewood since Sebastian was a boy. The second and almost more daunting task would be to recruit new horses. First of all, they were expensive, and the time that it took to view them and train them was also expensive. Second of all, good sound, well behaved horses suitable for Sebastian's lessons were very hard to find.

He gave up on the lesson horse subject and turned to something that might lighten his mood a little. The week's training reports had just come in from Anthony. The prospect of owning racehorses again excited Sebastian. His parents always had a barn full, trained by the late Mr. Fently. When their faithful trainer passed away, Sebastians parents sold off their thoroughbreds (except for a few that Sebastian took and turned into eventers) and go out of the business completely. Now that Sebastian had hired Anthony he was sure the horses would be trained the right way, and hopefully become successful on the track. But most of all, he hoped the job would boost his friend's confidence. Anthony needed a break. Ever since 'the incident' he hadn't been able to find work anywhere. So Sebastian divised a plan to help out one of his oldest friends. And it seemed to be working. One thing that Sebastian didn't plan was the obvious connection between Anthony and his new stable hand.. That was most likely the work of the girls pretty face and happy-go-lucky attitude. And maybe her hair.. Sebastian suspected Anthony had a thing for red-heads..

And speaking of red-heads.. Alex burst through the door with a bang that startled Sebastian. Geez Alex, for a little girl you sure can make a big entrance Sebastian chuckled. What's up? In hindsight, Sebastian regretted even asking. He watched the fiery, tiny woman come unglued with awe and a tinge of fear. You see? This is why he preferred brunettes.. Just as smart with alot less crazy. When she came to the part about them going through alot together and being friends he realized she was not only angry, she was hurt. Of course we are.. he started to say but she cut him off with her next sentence, which stung a little. Yeah, she was back to angry again.. Sebastian just looked at her for a few seconds, his eyebrows so high they were nearly hidden by his sandy brown hair. I'm sorry Alex.. he said sincerely. You were definitely considered for the position.. he lied believably, But I just I had to give him the position, you of all people should understand.. he was cut off again by the door being slammed on her way out. The pictures on Sebastian's office wall shook. He was afraid for Anthony.. But why would Alex be so mad? Surely she would be happy for Anthony to finally find a job, wouldn't she? And then it dawned on him.. She didn't know he was back. Oh dear..

[[sorry I had to make her leave, I think Seb would have told her it was Anthony, because he assumed she knew, you know?]]

[Anthony Lovasz]

A lot of things in Anthony's life had worked out to be perfectly timed. From that one race he rode in that Mr. Fently just happened to see and recognize a raw and untapped talent in a very young rider, to Sebastian asking him a couple of weeks ago to come train for them just when he was sure whatever luck he'd had was now running on fumes. He remembered every detail of both instances 8 years apart. The horse he'd been riding was an ugly little bay with a muddy colored coat, a very unattractive head, skinny neck, legs too short, body too long, built downhill, a short little rat tail... but that spark in his big eye that was something special. That was the horse Anthony was dead set on riding. Unfortunately, another jockey was assigned to him. Fortunately, for Anthony, not so much the other guy, he was dumped in the race right before and managed to get himself all banged up... and since Anthony had been mulling around that horse's stall all day, with five minutes to start time, the trainer grabbed him and put him on the horse. The race didn't start out so well. The horse, named "Acelerador," tripped out of the starting gate and nearly went to his knees, giving the other horses a good head start. By the time they crossed the finish line, they were in 4th of a field of 10.. out of the money... but they'd made up 15 lengths just on the turn... and that was what caught Mr. Fently's eye.

More recently, Anthony had been struggling to find any rides on any horses, and it was no secret among the racing community that the former star of the track had fallen far from his perch at the top. Everyone in the racing business knew about it. Some called him washed up... some said he'd lost his "mojo," others said they'd seen it coming, and still others said he'd had it coming... truthfully, he hadn't lost anything except the respect of trainers who had formerly lined up to get him on their horses. Sebastian had come up to Belmont to look at a horse, with the secondary objective of tracking Anthony down, which was no small task these days now that he wasn't showing up in winner's circle pictures anymore. Somehow or another, though Seb had found him, and just in the nick of time... to nearly have his head bit off by Anthony's most recent project. It didn't take much haggling to convince Anthony to take that job.

Pinewood was where Anthony had gotten his start, and it would be the perfect place to start over from the beginning again. If he could train a few horses and get them into the winner's circle, maybe people would get their faith in him back. As much as Anthony enjoyed training, it just wasn't the same as riding all the time. Now, he wouldn't just up and abandon Sebastian and Pinewood once he got his reputation back... he was fairly sure that it would take some time to do so, maybe several years, and by then it probably wouldn't be too hard to get himself a select few cliental to follow and ride for which meant he could probably continue training as his main source of income, but take a few rides a week as a side bonus. If Emily stuck around that long, he was confident she would have the skill and knowledge of the horses to take care of things during his absences.

Anthony was just on his way up to drop off one of the training reports that he had been working on when Sebastian had picked them up earlier. If there was one thing Mr. Fently had drilled relentlessly into Anthony's head it was that ever last detail of everything that happened to the horse was to be written down and reported every day... usually more than once a day. In the morning it was recorded if and how much the horse ate, if they were drinking water, whether or not they were eating all of their supplement, their general mood and appearance. After workouts, the time and distance of the workout, how quickly they cooled out, if there was any heat or pain in any of the legs or hooves as well as rider comments on how the horse felt, if there had been any missteps, how well they responded when asked to move out, if they were spooking at anything was all written down. In the evening the legs were checked again, the mood and appearance was re-analyzed, how much of their food had been eaten... basically everything that could possibly be recorded was recorded. Anthony was all too aware that Sebastian probably didn't want to read through all of that since most of it was the same from day to day... so at the end of the week he would write up a condensed version with only the "relevant" details on it.

As he walked up to Sebastian's office, he was glancing over the paper in his hand making sure he hadn't forgotten anything, and moving more out of habit than actually looking where he was going. Everyone knew that Anthony was the worst multi-tasker on the face of the earth and he couldn't actually think about two things at once if his life depended on it. He was just turning to walk into the office when suddenly a flurry of fiery red hair flew out of the office, slamming the door behind her, and the two of them walked, quite literally, right into one another. Anthony was broken out of his trance as he looked up from the paper to see the tiny woman standing in front of him now. I'm sorry... he said, but stopped when he realized that not only did she look flustered but also familiar. They had met each other a time or two at a few of the race meets... before everyone had decided he wasn't a good rider... then she had happened to move to Pinewood and they'd hit it off quite well, but his career took him in a different direction. He was reaching the pinnacle of his success and in order to get there, he had to follow the race meets... and as was his style, he left with hardly a bit of notice to do so. It had been at least three years since he had seen her, maybe four Alex Chasse. How could anyone forget her?

Are you alright? Anthony asked, genuinely concerned, though not about having run into her... he knew she was unscathed from that... he was more concerned about why she had just stormed out of Sebastian's office with such... gusto. The last time Anthony had seen someone come raging out of that office so angry it was probably about 7 years ago when two very upset women, one only half dressed, exited. Turned out the one didn't know about the other and vise versa... and the fully clothed one just happened to walk in on the half naked one and a very shameless Sebastian. He could only hope something like that hadn't just happened again... seeing as Sebastian was married and had a child now. Anthony would like to think that his friend had grown up a little since then.

[Alex Chasse]

Lies. That’s all that ever came out of Sebastian’s mouth. Typically Alex would have just rolled her eyes and shrug it off… If he hadn’t changed yet odds were he wasn’t going to. Not that he was a horrible person he just had a knack for… Avoiding honest and good tendencies. He had cleaned up his act a lot lately should give him that. He was good to Chey and his son Caiden… At the moment though Alex could care less about that. Right now Sebastian was an ass whom she really just wanted to punch square in the face and knock him out…. But she held it in. Sick of hearing his excuses she rolled her eyes and stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her.

More annoyed than upset now she was far from paying attention. Alex had a bit of a temper it was true she could go off on you quite harshly… but that was extremely rare… only a select few people had seen that side of her. For the most part she was calm, relaxed, chill, and fairly laid back. It took effort to get her angry or upset but Sebastian just had a talent for doing so. Typically she wouldn’t be this flustered, but this was just icing on the cake. He of all people knew this was what she did… racing was her life… quite literally. She grew up in the barn and knew the industry in and out. Everyone knew who she was and respected her she had a great reputation. Yes there were better people out there, more qualified sure, but the least he could have done was told her instead of her finding out through the grapevine.

Alex being as tiny as she is had originally started off as a warm up rider just working riding her dads horses on the practice track here and there but it wasn’t long before she fell head over heels in love with the rush. Next thing she knew she had her Jockey’s license and was riding her first race. There was no big accident in fact they did quite well placing 3rd… but the more she learned about the behind the scene the more involved in the training she got and the management of it all. Everyone knew Alex had an eye for training techniques she was good at that. So after a few races she started to lean more towards training… to the relief of her mom who wasn’t a big fan of watching her speed around the track. Even though she one first a couple times with a 2nd and 3rd’s mixed in there she decided not to race anymore. There was just something about the race track and the horses… she just couldn’t stay away so even though she didn’t race she would still get on and ride them on the practice track… Typically when no one was around though.

Flying out of the door and down the aisle way not paying much attention to anyone or anything she ran right into a guy with papers in his hands. Trying and failing at not being exasperated she ran her fingers through her hair trying to regain composure. “I’m sorry… I wasn’t paying attention.” He asked how she was and she shook her head. “ Yeah I’m okay, no harm done. ” Finally taking a moment to look at the man she had collided with she realized she knew him. Alex wasn’t one for forgetting anything. And suddenly it all made sense. Anthony Lovasz and Sebastian had known each other for forever. Sort of teenage friends… Anthony had been in the racing business for quite a while as well… and his career had been… not so hot lately. Alex knew this of course because she knew everything… and what she didn’t know didn’t matter. The men standing in front of her with what she could only assume were the reports for the week was none other than Anthony Lovasz. With a sigh she looked at Anthony still not very happy but trying to understand. “ Hi Anthony”