"I shall go and find the ship's physician and perhaps some ice," Jenkins said with a bow.

"No need for the doctor," Nicole said swinging her legs up onto the couch. She grimaced momentarily as her hurt ankle landed on the cushions. "Nothing is broken, just re-aggravated an old injury. Ice would be nice though, and an ace bandage if you can find one."

"Certainly Miss McKay," Jenkins said, before turning and leaving the suite.

Tim grabbed one of the extra throw pillows and knelt beside the couch. Nicole jumped when his hands closed around her foot and calf. He looked up, concern filling his brown eyes. "You okay?" He asked, he voice dropping deep.

"Y..yes," Nicole stammered, mentally kicking herself. This isn't the first cowboy you've been around woman! Get it together and stop acting like a blithering idiot! She mentally chided herself.

Tim nodded and turned his attention back to her foot. As gently as possible he pulled off her cowboy boot and set it on the floor next to him. Her ankle was already starting to swell some. He pulled off her sock with gentle hands and laid her foot on the throw pillow to elevate it.

Soon Jenkins reappeared with an ice pack wrapped in a towel, an ace bandage and even a bottle of Ibuprofen. He brought the items over the couch where Tim took the towel wrapped ice pack and laid it over her ankle. Jenkins handed Nicole a bottle of water and shook to Ibuprofen tablets out onto her palm. Nicole dutifully swallowed the pills, washing them down with water.

"Might I suggest a relaxing day in the suite?" Jenkins said once Nicole had taken the pills. "There is nothing scheduled until dinner tonight at the Captain's Table with the other winners and their companions."

"The Captain's Table?!" Nicole said in surprise and concern. "Isn't there like a fancy dress code for that? I don't have anything appropriate packed."

"Then may I suggest you rest until say mid-afternoon and then perhaps avail yourselves of the shops on board," Jenkins said helpfully. "Part of your winning package is a nice sum of credit to be used at the shops on board."

"Really?!" Nicole asked, her words laced with surprise.

"Of course Miss McKay," Jenkins said jovially. "I would never lie to you about something like that. I could even set you up an appointment at the salon on board if you would like. You could perhaps get your hair and nails done if you would like."

"Thank you Jenkins. I am sure Nicole would love that," Tim said when Nicole sat there gaping in shock. This was so much to take in and Nicole didn't know how to adjust to this VIP treatment.

"Certainly Master Foust," Jenkins said with a bow before leaving the suite's living room.

"I suppose you are used to this VIP treatment," Nicole said when they were alone.

"Not really," Tim said with a laugh. "Home Free is still relatively small; most of our fame comes from winning the Sing Off. We aren't really rolling in the big bucks, though the fame does come with its perks. Honestly stuff like this still catches me off guard."

Nicole found herself smiling. Tim seemed so laid back and down-to-earth. He was not at all what she had expected. She had just assumed that as a celebrity, he would be full of himself and used to getting all the VIP treatment. Maybe this cruise wouldn't be so bad after all. Besides the rest would be nice though she already missed the horses badly and it had been less than 24 hours since she had left the ranch.

"What'cha thinking?" Tim's voice brought her back to the present. "You look a million miles away. Am I that boring?"

Nicole started to stutter and apology but stopped when she caught the gleam in his eye. The man was teasing her! Well two can play that game, thought Nicole. "Oh yeah. You are so boring I think I nearly dozed off," she said, face completely dead pan.

As Nicole watched, Tim's face ran through surprise, shock, self-conscious and sadness until he saw the evil grin lighting up her face. Then realization hit and those dark brown eyes lit up with laughter. He burst into laughter and it was so contagious that Nicole found herself joining him.

"So what were you thinking about," Tim asked after the laughter had died down.

Nicole shook her head. "About how I already miss the horses and the ranch and about all the work I should be doing. This is the first time I have been gone since the...I mean in about two years." Nicole said.

"You live and work on a ranch?" Nicole noticed that that seemed to pique the man's interest. "What do you do? Raise and sell horses?"

Nicole smiled; she loved talking about her work. "We actually do mainly horse rescue, from horses that people can't keep and need to find a new home for to horses that have been seized out of neglect or abusive situations. The latter we rehabilitate and, when we feel they are ready, then we try and place them in homes. We also deal with problem horses that have developed issues that no-one else can seem to figure out how to fix."

"That sounds challenging and rewarding," Tim said with a nod. "What kind of problems?"

Nicole thought for a moment. Most people didn't usually care to hear about it, but Tim seemed genuinely interested. "Well for example I have been working with this Thoroughbred filly Sweet Symphony. She was the top running filly of her age but she has suddenly started rearing anytime you try and load her into the starting gate. Her trainers have tried everything they can think of but she wont go anywhere near the starting gate without going ballistic."

"So what do you do about it?" Nicole glanced over at the handsome singer, her eyes reading him. But he still seemed completely interested and not like he was just humoring her so she continued.

"The first thing I do is assess the animal and try and see if I can figure out where the issue is coming from and what started it. Some are quite easy to discern like a traumatic incident but sometimes the source of the issue is harder to find. It could be something in the environment or maybe an unintentional cue from the rider or something else. Once we have found the source of the issue then we can begin to fix it."

Before long Tim had her regaling him with stories of some of the different horses she had worked with. Like Behemoth, the big warmblood that had developed a crushing phobia of little dogs after having been nipped by a tea cup poodle. Or Ranger, the Police horse who had started bolting any time a car honked after his rider had been in a car accident. The day flew by as they chatted, Tim exchanging stories of crazy experiences on the road or with fans.

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