He's Yours

                                    

                                          
Request – One where Kayce watches you with Tate.

"How much longer, dad?" Tate asked from where he sat on the fence. Kayce was letting the new horse John had bought for his grandson get used to having a saddle on his back in the corral. 
You had just gotten back home from work; it had been a brutal day with paperwork and fighting land lease agreements to try and help your father-in-law keep his ranch. To make it even more awkward, your brother-in-law seemed to be doing everything in his own power to dismantle his father's ranch. Walking that line was becoming increasingly difficult for you and you knew eventually you would have to take on Jamie in the courts. But he had almost ten years on your in the legal world, and while you thought his moral were questionable at times, he was still respected in Helena. 
You had left your blazer in the car and untucked your shirt as you walked over to where Tate was. The past four years had not been the easiest with the ten-year-old, but he had become one of your favorite people. When he looked over at you, a large smile graced his lips. 
"Hiya," Tate giggled. "Dad still won't let me ride Lucky." 
"You gotta have patience," You smiled, reached up to pat Tate's arms. "How was school?"
"Boring," Tate grumbled. "Mom almost didn't let me come out here because dad was late picking me up." 
"I was coming from Johnson's place," Kayce called out, not looking back at the two of you. "She needs to learn distance and time." 
You shook your head, holding back a smile. 
"You look tired," Tate said next to you. 
"I am," You nodded, smiling up at him. "I wish all I had to do during the day was go to school." 
"You do?" Tate gave you a weird look. "Why?"
"Because" You climbed up on the fence, swinging your leg over to straddle the past and face Tate. "You get to be with your friends and learn all these new things for the first time." 
"I learn enough here," Tate rolled his eyes. 
"You learn how to survive," You reached over and ruffled his hair. "But in school is where you learn how to thrive. You do learn more in books and human interaction than you can out here." 
"Not if this is where I'm going to live," Tate joked. 
"Times are changing though," You spoke softly to the boy. "You're going to have to be smarter than your grandad...smarter than your dad, to keep this place going forward. You'll learn how to do that if you get a good education." 
"But it's so boring," Tate whined. 
"I know," You giggled. "But your reward is coming here and getting to spend time here when you're not in school." 
"I like it here better than my mom's house," Tate glanced cautiously at you. 
"You get washed up for dinner," You smiled at him, winking. "And I'll pretend I didn't hear that." 
"Fine," Tate sighed before jumping down and racing off to the main house. You watched him until he disappeared over the hill before you allowed yourself to deflate from today's stress. 
"He's already smarter than his dad." 
You turned, look at where Kayce was standing near you. The horse was gone, someone must have come to grab it while you were talking with Tate. 
"Well," You giggled. "His daddy has other qualities." 
"You okay?" Kayce walked up to where you were and ran his hand up and down your thigh, looking concerned. "How was he?" 
"He's tough, Kayce," You sighed, knowing he meant Jamie. "Your dad is going to have to lighten up against him." 
"He won't," Kayce shook his head. 
"If he wants to survive, he will," You brought your outside leg over and slid down, Kayce trapping you between his body and the fence with his arms. "I don't think Jamie is trying to sabotage this place. But it's not an easy place to protect legally, and John doesn't make it any easier with his my way or the highway rules, it's my land... I've got about three books worth of legal cases from the past I'm trying to sort through to see if there is a way to bind some of the contracts into governmental land agreements, but that's going to mean the Yellowstone steps up their environmental stance on things. Make it a little more open to outsiders possibly?" 
"I don't know what you just said," Kayce smiled at you. 
"I don't think Jamie is the bad guy," You whispered, wrapping your arms around Kayce's neck. "But we're gonna have to give a little to get a little." 
"You give enough," Kayce mumbled, leaning down to press a kiss against your lips. "And all I care about is getting you." 
"You have me," You kissed him back. "But if we don't move, Tate is going to come back down here and get dirty again after I told him to wash up." 
"Thanks for being good with him" Kayce unwrapped his arms from you as you both started to walk up to the main house. "He loves you." 
"I love him," You wrapped one of your arms around Kayce's waist. He brought his arm around your shoulder. "I still haven't found to right response though for when he starts talking about liking this place more than his mother's." 
"You don't have to respond," Kayce answered. "He doesn't know what he's saying." 
"I think he does," You glanced up at Kayce. "But he needs to know his place is here and with his mom. It's a balance but that doesn't mean it's easy for us adults in the situation." 
Kayce looked down at you with a weird expression. 
"What?" You laughed. 
"You're something else," Kayce mumbled, shaking his head. 
"What do you mean?" You pressed on, squeezing his side. "Kayce..." 
"You're just," He started and then paused again for a moment, stopping in front of the main house. "His mom hasn't been the nicest to you, yet here you are making sure she gets an equal share." 
"Well," Your arm dropped from around Kayce. "Technically he's not mine, he's hers. I don't really get any say, but if I can make it easier for her, she seems to be more wiling to let me have time with him." 
Kayce reached up and cupped your cheek, his thumb rubbing back and forth on your smooth skin. Sure, Monica and you had a rocky start when you were brought into the picture by Kayce. You definitively had to prove yourself ten times over for her to let Tate be with you. For now, things seemed to have settled, hopefully for good, but you always felt guarded with her around. 
"He's yours," Kayce spoke lowly, nodding his head to prove his point more. 
You gave him a sad smile but shook your head softly. Kayce cut you off, his other hand reaching up to hold your face gently. You looked up into his caramel eyes, swallowing hard to make yourself not tear up. 
"He's yours," Kayce repeated more firmly. "It's not the natural way, but it's your own special way." 
"Thank you," You whispered quietly after a while. "Today was really tough."
"I know," Kayce nodded. He dropped his hands, but circled one around your waist, bringing you closer and kissing you deeply. You fisted the front of his shirt as you tried to melt into his kiss. 
"Can you both stop!" Tate called out from the front porch, laughing. You and Kayce both looked over, not letting go of one another. "Let's Eat!" 
Giggling, you let Kayce lead you up and into the house.