Desperate Measures

"One last thing before I go."

Guin looked up, unsure what was about to be asked. "Yes?"

"Can I take a couple of these cookies for the road?"

Guin nodded and grabbed a brown paper bag. As she slipped the cookies into the bag, she silently thanked the universe for sending a pony to be her social worker, and not a gryphon.

She'd been seeing her social worker every week for a month now, and everything seemed to be going well. She'd managed to keep the house clean, as it didn't become too messy through normal use. Guin had become more and more competent and confident in the kitchen, and had even interrupted the meeting to take a nutcake out of the oven for Seascape's son's birthday. And most importantly, everyone in the house had calmed down with their stressors diminishing.

"Thanks. It's going to be a long ride back to Canterlot."

Once she was out the door, Guin made her way out to the garage, where Jack was working under the carriage. "Hey."

Jack took a moment to look, and upon seeing Guin, smiled, and returned to his task. "She gone?"

"Just left," nodded Guin. "How's the cart doing?"

"Well, the axle's fixed," answered Jack. "Wheels are reattached, bearings fitted, all that's left now is to finish attaching it and put it through its paces." He grabbed a bolt from the small stack next to him. "I wager about two more minutes, and then we can try it out."

Guin sat down by his back hooves and gave him the last two bolts. Once he had those in place, she lowered the cart onto its axles and let Jack tighten them down at their full capacity, then helped him slide out from underneath.

"Okay." He dusted himself off and stood up. "Once around the block?"

Guin hopped into the back as Jack hooked himself up to pull. He took off at a slow walk to the end of the driveway. "Feels good so far," Guin called up to him.

With a nod, Jack kicked it up to a trot and pulled it out onto the street. "How about now?"

"Smooth and easy," called Guin.

As he turned the corner, he began to gallop, running as fast as he cared to. This time, it was a little bit bumpy, but not more than could be expected. Guin was easily able to stay inside of it, though she was a bit jostled as he slowed down. "How was that?"

"Well," thought Guin, "remember how your bed was squeaking the night before last?"

"Yeah?"

"Felt like that, but less pleasant. I wouldn't put anything glass in here if we're going to go that fast, but if you padded it out a bit, it's a pretty smooth ride."

Jack smiled and turned back up the driveway. As soon as it was parked in the garage, she jumped on his shoulders. "You're a pretty smooth ride, too..."

"You tease," he chuckled. "You know, we don't have to show up at the party for another hour. We have the house to ourselves. Wanna roll around for a bit?"

"I'm in!"

"How are my feathers? Do they look okay?"

Jack placed a hoof on her shoulder. "You look fine, dear."

"Are you sure? I still feel ruffled..."

"You're walking a little crooked, but nopony's going to notice. You're fine."

"I'm walking crooked?" Guin shrank down. "Carry me."

"Yeah, I'm not going to do that," smirked Jack.

"Everypony's going to notice that I'm walking funny. Carry me."

Jack shook his head and opened the door to Guin's gran's house. "We're here!" he called, alerting everypony to their presence.

Seascape immediately came over and grabbed the cake. "I'll go cut this up," she said. "Go on, the kids are in the living room."

Guin shivered as she entered the room, with Jack splitting from them to talk to Seascape's stepdad. Guin was left to walk over to Jenny and Kurt on her own.

"Afternoon," smiled Kurt, waving the baby's hoof. "How was the meeting?"

"Good, good," smiled Guin back, sweating. "H-how was the party?"

Jenny looked around. "Still going. You want some punch? It looks like that cart repair took a lot out of you."

"Yeah, that explains it," chuckled Guin, glad to have an excuse.

However, her forcing it revealed to Kurt what had happened. The smile on his face diminished, but didn't leave. "I expect that you tested the shocks so completely that the ride will be smooth as butter after this," he quipped.

Guin nodded. At the very least, she was glad that he wasn't as angry anymore. Spending some time talking to the social worker on his own, as well as seeing his dad happy, had opened him up to the idea that it was a good thing that Guin was staying with them. He hadn't yelled at anypony in a week, and hadn't cursed since Thursday.

"Okay, cake's ready," called Seascape, bringing it in from the kitchen. It had been sliced into eight sections; one for each of them. Seascape, her mom, her stepdad, her son, Guin, Kurt, Jenny and Jack. One of the slices, she put on a plate with a big six-shaped candle.

They all sang happy birthday to Seascape's son and watched him blow out the candle, then tucked into their cake. Immediately, compliments began pouring in for Guin's nutcake, and then it was time to open presents. Guin and Jack had bought him a stuffed black knight.

Unfortunately, most of the day had passed, and Kurt and Seascape had a date tomorrow, so it wasn't too much longer before they all had to go home and go to bed. However, Guin was no longer sharing a room with Jenny. Since she was in charge of breakfast anymore, Guin needed to wake up a little bit earlier, and it was easier for Jack to do that if they were sharing a room, and even easier, a bed.

As Guin, climbed up into bed with Jack, he wrapped his hooves around her and held on tight. "Good night, my love," he said, kissing her head.

"Sweet dreams," she said back to him, burrowing herself into his chest. There was no need for a blanket when she had his warm embrace. "I'll see you in the morning."