A small company wound its way across a steep mountain path. Looking closer, one could see four familiar shapes and a fifth smaller one. The four were humans, completely devoid of mutations, rare in this world, excepting one was darker and seemed to be riding on the second figure's back.

The gunslinger led the way, followed by Eddie and Susannah Dean with Jake and Oy bringing up the rear. The path they followed was as evident as if someone had highlighted it with a marker, which, in a sense, someone had.

Night began to grow thick around them and they made camp. When the fire had been started, Susannah crawled over to Jake.

"C'mon Sugga, let us see if we can't find us some mushrooms for the stew." Jake nodded and stood up. He knew she didn't want to find mushrooms; Eddie had told her to leave. Jake felt it just as she had. Besides, this was becoming a ritual anyway. They would set up, then Jake, Susannah, and Oy would hed off somewhere, leaving Eddie to whittle and Roland to smoke.

That wasn't all. Jake knew why the men wanted to be alone. He could feel it between them, that electricity. As far as he could tell, no impulses had been acted upon as of yet, but it was coming and when it did their little ka-tet may never be the same. He just hoped Susannah couldn't feel it.

The woman was weaker in the touch and hadn't sensed anything amiss. She only knew she had to leave each night with Jake for a few hours, not knowing why or even that Eddie had wished it.

Jake was right, neither Eddie nor Roland had acted. It wasn't that they didn't feel it; they did, perhaps more so than Jake had. Concern for Susannah kept them away from each other. Also, Eddie had only felt the pull from his end. Old long, tall, and ugly had grown more tempting by the day, but showed no signs of the attraction from his end. Eddie hinted, suggesting they go hunting or asking Roland to look at something and the gunslinger had happily obliged, but he reacted the same way when Jake or Susannah asked the same of him. But the unreturned affection was just fine with Eddie. He didn't want to have to explain to Susannah.

The ex-prisoner picked up his newest project, an owl, and slouched down to his work. He was still a bit self-conscious whenever he would whittle, afraid Roland would suddenly acquire the voice of Henry. The gunslinger never said a word, though, and Eddie was beginning to relax.

Looking up, Eddie saw Roland had rolled himself a smoke and was staring absentmindedly into the fire. He had laced up his deerskin vest and rolled down his shirtsleeves.

"It's gonna be a cold one tonight, huh?" Eddie looked up hopefully; conversations were tough with this guy.

Roland simply nodded, scooting closer to the fire. The pair sat across from each other and Eddie was in Roland's peripheral view. He had discovered this was the safest way to look at his companion since no questions were asked and it was assumed he was thinking or reminiscing. In fact, he was thinking, but not about what was believed.

Eddie was wrong, the gunslinger did feel it. He felt it more than Jake or Eddie. It wasn't new to him though. Relationships had sprung between him and a part of his ka-tet before. It had been long in coming, but Alain had become a loyal friend and a strong lover. Alain had to chisel past the wall Roland had built after loosing Susan, but it had been accomplished. After loosing Alain, the wall had been reconstructed, this time for good.

Suddenly, the gunslinger noticed a change. The persistent sound of Eddie's knife had stopped. He looked up, hand immediately groping for the butt of his gun. His eyes met Eddie's, who had apparently stopped messing with his wood doll to stare at Roland.

"Eddie." Roland's voice held authority; the same that helped Eddie survive his first days on the beach. "Eddie, this can't…"

"Shut up." To Eddie's surprise, the gunslinger did. Their gazes didn't split and after what seemed like an eternity, Roland opened his mouth to speak again. "I said shut the fuck up!" A harsh whisper tore from Eddie's throat. Roland nodded slightly and broke the gaze.

Immediately, Eddie felt guilty. He still didn't understand the feeling. It wasn't lust, although almost every time he was with Susannah, he thought of Roland at the crucial moment. Afterwards he would roll off her, kiss her goodnight and think of the gunslinger. Never had he harbored feelings for a male before, well a particular one anyway. He remembered being curious, but Henry had called him queer countless times and the thoughts had left. Eddie also had never heard truth in it. Not that in this world that mattered. Who was here to call him queer now, to push those thoughts out of his mind? Who was here to even care? –Susannah- Her named shoved its way into his head. Would she care? –It would tear her fucking heart out. – ­

"Something's wrong." Susannah looked up from examining a root. "Eddie's not well"

Jake turned around, suddenly sure that his worst fear had come true; they had given in. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know Sugga. He just don't feel right." She knew though, he felt just the way he did right before he crawled into bed with her. He felt hot. –Impossible. It's just him and…- "Roland!" She leaned up and grabbed Jake by the collar, not harshly, but enough to pull him to her level. "What's going on?" Despite her actions, her voice was calm.

Jake looked down. If he lied, she'd know. Somehow, he felt like he should risk it. "I don't know, I can't feel either one of them."

"Ok, let's go then." She started crawling back towards camp.

Reluctantly, Jake followed. –Hurry up, guys.-

Eddie was in fact hot, but nothing done had brought it upon him. He had simply continued thinking about Roland and his body had responded. He was in desperate need now.

Roland looked up again to catch Eddie panting slightly. "Eddie, what's wrong?" He got up, groaning a little at the pain in his hip and slowly kneeled beside Eddie.

"You better leave right now, buddy." Eddie turned his head, knowing what would come.

"What's gotten into you?" Roland grabbed Eddie's chin, forcing the younger man to look at him.

"Nothing man, just leave, and now." He regained control of his own face and looked away once more.

Roland thought a moment. He also knew what would come and had picked up on some of Eddie's heat. The gunslinger had resigned to not give into his emotions, but if Eddie wanted to, who was he to hold him back, or, in that case, not help him along?

"Eddie, look at me." His voice took on a softness, as soft as it could despite the years of swallowing dust.

"No, I told you to shut up. I'd listen if I were you." Despite his refusal, Eddie did look and what he saw did not help his control. Bombardier's eyes stared back into his with a gentleness he had never seen them hold before.

"You could leave instead of me."

Eddie snorted laughter. –I can't even move. How the hell am I supposed to get up? - "I can't."

With a quickness that surprised even the gunslinger, Eddie grabbed the soft fabric of Roland's vest and brought his mouth to his. He kissed him deep, willing the gunslinger to respond. Eddie got his wish and he stroked the fine leather between his fingers. He felt fingers run through his hair and let out a moan into Roland's mouth.

-Hurry up, guys. - Jake's voice shot through Roland's head. He gasped and pulled back but Eddie's mouth followed. He untangled his hands from Eddie's hair and grabbed the younger man's face.

When they disconnected, Eddie's eyes were still closed. They opened and stared into Roland's with disbelief. No thoughts ran through his mind, no guilt plagued him. He was simply there, face cradled between two strong hands, one slightly diminished. It began to dawn that Roland had drawn back and a question rose in his eyes.

Roland saw it and tried to answer. "Jake and Susannah will be here soon." He stood up, not noticing the pain this time, and settled in his previous spot. He picked up the smoke which had been carefully laid on the ground and resumed his previous activity.

With shaking hands, Eddie tried to do the same. His semi-owl was discarded near his foot along with his knife. He didn't begin carving, though. He had enough sense left to know that there would be no owl left if he tried to whittle it now.

A few minutes later, Susannah, Jake and Oy came into the clearing. The woman wore a mildly worried expression and it dissipated when she saw that the two men were on separate sides of the fire, each entertaining themselves. She crawled to Eddie, grabbed his hand, and they went off to their sleeping area.

Oy waddled over to Roland and Jake sat next to the man he had come to know as his father. Jake held no taboos over men loving each other, but he didn't want their ka-tet to be in danger. However, he had no intention of striking up this particular conversation with the gunslinger.

Instead, Roland saved him the trouble. "You know, don't you Jake?" He didn't look at the boy but stared directly into the heart of the fire as if trying to will it to go out.

Jake nodded. "You guys haven't…um…" He blushed and couldn't go on.

"I kissed him." The gunslinger wasn't one to skate around anything. "Nothing further. But I fear the worst. I'm afraid I won't hear you next time." He glanced toward the Deans and noticed they were both sleeping, or appeared to be. They were separate, hardly touching.

He didn't expect an answer, but found Jake had one. "What's more important, the Tower, or sex?" Rhetorical, they all knew the answer to that.

"It's not just that. I haven't had someone since Tull, and even her I didn't love." Nevertheless, Roland was mulling over what Jake had said. "I suppose it doesn't matter. I need Susannah for my quest, and she will leave. I will stay away from Eddie, but I can't guarantee that he will do the same."

A/N – Well what do you think? I'll finish it regardless, but I'm not sure if I will post the rest or not…depends on the feedback I get, I guess. I would like all comments too, even the harsh ones. Roland is soooo hard to keep in character…