Author's Note: Written for a request.
Dreams
John looked him—washed-out, run-down—didn't know what was so special about him. Finally here, after all these years, barely a word to say. John knew that this might be his last chance to make things right with Jack, to make the amends he couldn't when Jack was alive, but the bitterness twisted in him, and protective instinct clutched at his throat.
He wouldn't let this man, the dream-crusher, take the ashes. He couldn't, even if it meant Jack would never forgive him. Let Ennis have the shirt, and learn what it meant to dream in agony.
Let him learn.