Dixie studied Nicky as he emerged from his room several minutes later, clad in workout pants, a weathered looking short sleeve tee, and his running shoes. She could see the strain of the injury in his walk, though he was trying desperately to hide it and walk perfectly normally. She could see the unevenness in his gait, and told herself she'd have to adjust her initial plan a bit – he wasn't as far along as Cade had thought he was.

She'd have to jettison the training for today, and just check out the rehab work to be done.

Despite the faint scowl on his face, she mused that he really was quite cute, in an aloof cowboyish sort of way. Blondish brown hair that spiked in all directions, deep greenish gray eyes, a slight goatee of the five o'clock shadow variety and a serious brow, his forehead filled with lines that betrayed his serious nature without him even opening his mouth.

Nicky Gamble was attractive, and yet, a total mystery.

Once she got her hands on him, though, and really assessed his levels, he would be a mystery no more, Dixie mused, tugging her ponytail tighter and straightening her shoulders, ready for battle.

**

Nicky sighed inwardly as he approached Dixie, shooting Cade a cold glance over his shoulder.

A glance that said the two of them were definitely going to be having words later about honesty and trust between rider and crew chief.

Cade merely smiled brightly and gave him a little wave, the cocky twerp.

God, Nicky hated that guy sometimes.

He didn't really, he amended in his mind, focusing on making his walk look perfectly natural. He just... he just irritated Nicky sometimes, with his sunshiny attitude and attaboy spirit.

When they were getting beat, Nicky didn't want attaboy. He wanted to get his ass kicked for letting his entire team, and all his sponsors, down.

And that surfer hair of Cade's also bugged the crap out of him – no self respecting cowboy had hair like that.

He could see Dixie watching his gait and sped up, trying desperately to hide his impediment, though the muscles in his leg and ankle were screaming for him to stop.

"Hrm," she said, mostly to herself as Nicky gestured silently towards the front door with one hand, and the gym with the other in question.

She looked up him and down, as though he were a cow at the county fair, then gestured to the front door.

How could a five foot nothin', buck-five soaking wet, redheaded little girl make him feel like he was about to fail gym class?

They both stepped onto the porch, squinting slightly in the thin sunshine and Nicky stopped, waiting for further instruction from his new drill sergeant.

"Let's..." she cleared her throat and tried again. "Let's just walk for a while," she said. "Take me on your favorite walk."

His favorite walk? What was this, Dr. Phil?

"Uh," he stammered, at a loss. "I guess we could walk towards one of the back paddocks."

"Sure," she said, bouncing down the steps and smiling up at him. "And how about you walk for real, instead of pretending nothing hurts. I saw your chart and read about your surgery, and your muscles must have been seriously hurting a second ago while you were trying to show off that you were a big tough cowboy man with something to prove."

Nicky could feel his cheeks flushing slightly, caught in the lie of his gait. "I..."

"I know," Dixie said, holding up a hand to cut him off. "Believe me, I've worked with a lot of athletes who don't want to look any more hurt than they are. But you are hurt, and I'm here to make it heal, so do what I say, or you'll make it worse. I saw the wreck film, I know what damage it did, so stop trying to man up and cover it. Now, let's just walk. Easy, slowly, and let me analyze what's going on. Do you mind pulling you pants leg up so I can see your leg?"

Nicky grunted, then complied, tugging his track pant up and tucking it into itself, feeling like an idiot.

Or a poser in some sort of seriously white boy rap video.

Dixie sensed he wasn't feeling chatty, so she just followed his lead away from the porch and onto the dirt path leading away from the house, obviously worn by years of cowboy boots and weather. They walked for close to ten minutes, Dixie often behind him, watching his gait, studying the movement of his muscles, and making Nicky feel completely self conscious.

He was normally a sort of quietly confident guy, but this tiny girl unnerved him.

He didn't like it.

Nicky grunted, partly in pain but mostly in frustration, as he slowed his walk further while Dixie bounced along behind him like some damn hyperactive golden retriever being taken for a run.

She was even smiling.

God, she sucked.

"Is your foot hurting?" Dixie asked, finally stilling her movements and looking at him with concern when he ground to a halt. "Or is it more your muscles?"

Nicky's eyes flashed with opportunity. "Yeah, it's real tight. My muscles in my leg. Enough for today?"

Dixie shook her head no, and then looked up and down the path they had been walking along, not seeing another house, person, or pickup truck for miles. "Nah, we can take care of that. Go ahead and lie down on the grass here," she said, pointing to a nearby patch of grass, while a few interested horses wandered over from a nearby paddock to view the impromptu rehab session.

"Uh, what?"

"Lay down. I'll stretch it out a bit. Your hamstring is probably tight too, from the way you've had to baby your foot. I'll take care of it," Dixie said easily, tightening her bouncy ponytail and gesturing again to the grass.

"Uh, no."

Dixie's expression didn't change.

Nicky tried again.

"I mean, I'm sure it's fine. It's just, you know, tight and stuff."

Dixie's stony expression still didn't waver, and she didn't move a muscle.

Nicky sighed slightly. "Really, I'm good to go. Let's walk some more. Let's walk to Montana, if you want. It's, you know, that way," he said, pointing north.

Dixie finally shifted, crossing her arms in front of her chest and fixing him with an expression filled with frustration, exasperation and just a hint of amusement. "You know what? Let's just get it out of the way now."

"Uh, get what out of the way?" Nicky, asked, confused.

"This hang up you have about my lack of a penis."

Nicky's jaw dropped, but she continued before he could interject.

"I may be a girl, but I have a master's degree in athletic training, and an bachelor's degree in sports medicine. I have four brothers, all of whom are in sports. And by 'in sports', I mean they are guys you have probably heard of if you follow either NFL football or AMA racing. I'm tough, I'm hardworking, but I'm fair and I know what I'm doing. Don't let the fact that I'm some little girl throw you – I'm going to get you into the best shape of your life while you continue to rehab that foot," Dixie took a deep breath, and then gave him a tight smile. "Got me?"

"Got ya," Nicky said in a low voice, obviously chagrined.

"Good," Dixie said, smiling in earnest at his obedient tone. "Now, lay the hell down."

Nicky gingerly lowered himself to the ground, his eyes wary as Dixie instructed him to lift his leg, as she began a series of stretching exercises, bracing his leg against her body, her hands cradling his muscles to make sure he didn't overextend, which he'd done several times in the last few days, with painful results.

It felt pretty damn good, actually, he mused. Nicky closed his eyes and tried to breathe into the stretch of his tight muscles.

"So... Dixie, huh?" He finally asked after a long silence, and was answered with a low laugh.

"My mom had a thing for 'D' names. I think between all the boys, she wanted a really girly sounding name, so... Dixie. My little brother used to call me something that definitely wasn't Dixie, so when we're fighting, I'm still known as Dicky among the family."

Nicky bit back a laugh, trying to play it cool.

"Of course, he plays on the defensive line for the Broncos now, so I get to call him Devious whenever he has a big play they don't see coming," Dixie said, still stretching Nicky's hamstring gently.

Nicky practically bolted upright. "Hang on, Devon Colson is your brother?"

Dixie nodded, a proud smile on her face. "Yeah. And so is Dale Colson. He plays for the—"

"Vikings," Nicky finished for her, impressed. "Dang, you weren't kidding. And your other two brothers?"

"Ask your brother Tommy. He knows Don from AMA SuperSport. And my other brother is Dave. He's racing AMA but just got the call to ride in Moto3 next year," Dixie said, leaning into the next stretch of Nicky's leg.

Nicky gave a low whistle of appreciation. "Okay, sorry 'bout before. You got street cred now, babe."

"Sweetums, I had street cred before, you just didn't believe it because I was a little girl," Dixie said with a teasing smile. "And I'm not your babe."

"I ain't your sweetums," Nicky shot back, grunting as his muscle tensed. "I'm more of a – ow – pumpkin or babycakes, I think."

"I'll keep that in mind," Dixie said with a small smile, concentrating on a particularly tight ligament.

"Four brothers, two in the NFL and two in racing. What are the odds of that?" Nicky mused. "And all 'D' names, like you said. I never put it together."

"I usually just refer to one or all of them as 'Doofus' as the need arises," Dixie said wryly. "It's still a 'D' name but usually suits my purposes so much better."

"And you?" Nicky asked after several minutes of silence while she worked.

"Hm?" Dixie asked, distracted by her task.

"Four brothers all in sports. What about you? What was your sport?"

Dixie shook her head impatiently and gave him a half grunt of annoyance. "I don't do sports anymore. That's a story for another day since I can see you wanting to ask, but for now..." she paused, then patted his leg a couple of times with finality. "We're done. Try that."

Dixie slowly lowered his leg to the ground, the offered him her hand to help him up. Nicky took it gratefully, testing out his injured foot.

"Better?" Dixie asked, watching him carefully place weight on his foot.

"Better," Nicky pronounced, and then looked at her slyly. "Thanks, babe."

Dixie punched him in the shoulder lightly, andthen gestured towards the house. "Let's head back, yeah? And no racing!" shesaid as he sped away from her on his freshly stretched legs.