undercover and under covers

18

months later

"hey jeff" brinn calles out to the main farmer on the property as she walked to the feeding house. jeff stopped and began to walk towards brinn "what can i do for you today" brinn asked.

"your on pigs and horses today" jeff said and looked behind brinn "and i see you brought some extra muscle" nick and brandon walked from the house towards where jeff and brinn stood talking. brinn looked back and smiled at the fact that two of them took her offer to come help out today.

"yep" brinn turned back to jeff.

"well they can work on the hay stacking at the top of the feeding barn" jeff said and brinn agreed.

"come on boys" brinn waved nick and brandon who were still a bit behind her towards the feeding barn. brinn looked at the hay that needed to be stacked and she knew it would take them a good minute.

"you guys are gonna be stacking hay. it works best if one of y'all are down her and then the other up there and then switch" brinn explained and they nodded and got to work right away. brinn went to the other side of the barn grabbing a wheel barrow and left the barn to go get scraps for the pigs.

in the house

"i feel like you should talk to her man it's been months" edwin sighed as he tightened the shoe laces to his tims getting ready to work.

"it's honestly kinda getting weird now" austin added while he read his book "what just saying" austin defended himself after zion gave him the death stare.

"i haven't avoided talking to her" zion replied in a duh tone.

"well..." austin and edwin said at the same time.

"ok fine, i haven't gone out of my way to talk to her about things but you don't get it i don't know who i was in love with and now my feelings are all gambled" zion explained it the best he could.

"i think you'll figure out those feelings once you talk" austin shrugged and edwin nodded.

later

"you callin it in?" jeff walked into the hay barn where brinn spent the majority of her day after feeding the animals. she looked up at jeff after finishing cleaning all the buckets and rakes.

"maybe in a bit" brinn smiled at him wiping her forehead with her arm.

"you work too hard" jeff laughed at her.

"i've been told that before" brinn laughed along with him.

"everything ok in that house, just you and those five guys?" jeff asked in a protective tone because over the months jeff had taken brinn under his wing like a daughter and brinn looked up at him like a father.

"yeah" brinn smiled lightly at him letting him know that zion and her were still unresolved but she didn't want to talk about it.

"ok well then i'll let you finish here" jeff turned around and began to walk out of the dimly lit barn "don't be up too late" jeff called out.

"no promises!" brinn yelled back laughing to herself. she began to stack the buckets and grabbed a broom to sweep up the hay on the barn floor before she went back to the house.

"hey" zion walked into the barn hitting his hands together in front of him.

"hey" brinn looked at him surprised that he was even here.

"you need some help?" zion asked picking up another broom and brinn nodded. the two swept the barn in silence for a few seconds until zion finally broke it "i want to talk, about what happened"

"me too" brinn stopped sweeping and grabbed the broom resting her weight on it.

"i just want you to understand i don't hate you and i'm not trying to ignore you i'm just trying to figure out how i'm feeling" zion explained to her.

"i get it, i do" brinn nodded "take your time, and there's no pressure, i think honestly in the situation we're in it would be better for us to just be friends" brinn admitted.

"i also wanted to say sorry for lashing out in the plane" zion looked down at his feet and then back to brinn.

"don't worry about it really" brinn forgave him. zion nodded and she began sweeping again making zion soon follow.

"you know i don't blame you for the way you reacted,  and i don't hold a grudge because i put a lot on you and that was shitty of me to do" brinn apologized as well.

"well your the only reason we're here and not in jail" zion laughed.

"i guess, but this place is like a jail in its own way" brinn looked around at the barn and then through the open doors to the dimly lit house.