Title: OUR SECOND CHANCE.7

Genre: Brokeback Mountain AU

Pairing: Ennis and Jack

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters; just wish I did.

Rating: Adult M/M

Word Count: 2,755

Warnings: None

Summary: They'd parted nearly ten months before, and both knew it was the biggest mistake a their young lives.

OSC.7

The delicious turkey smells beginning to waft from the kitchen were urging them to get all the cold side dishes ready for this evening's special meal. The hot dishes were already in the oven, or waiting for space to open up there. The pies were baked yesterday, and are stashed in the cupboard for later.

Paul showed up Christmas afternoon carrying several gaily wrapped packages. The sight that met his eyes when he opened the door did not make him glad. Ennis was on one side of the dining table chopping apples, while on the opposite side, Patricia diced celery and cracked walnuts for Waldorf Salad.

Jack was sitting on the parlor floor with Kara in his lap. He was reading to her from the Fairy Tales book she'd gotten from Santa. The baby was asleep in the cradle nearby; every so often Jack's foot would give a slight pressure

to the base of it, to continue to rock the baby.

Everyone looked up at the sound of Paul's footstep at the door. Ennis and Jack looked uncomfortable. Kara looked worried. The boys began to stand and they were making noises about leaving. But Patricia intervened.

"Good afternoon, Paul. As you can see, we have guests for Christmas dinner! Come in and get warm, honey."

Paul looked at the floor and mumbled something unintelligible. Patricia made another attempt to get this gathering warmed up. Purposely using their first names, she tried to make this a comfortable setting for them all to enjoy the holiday together. "Look at the rocking horse Ennis and Jack made for Kara, isn't it a wonderful likeness?"

"Kara, why don't you show daddy your new horse?"

The girl stood up from his lap and said, "Jack, I'll be right back."

Paul set his gifts under the tree and took off his coat and gloves before walking over to the horse.

"See daddy? Isn't this the best present in the whole world?"

Paul knew he had to make this right, the way he'd been acting, so he agreed.

"Kara, I believe it is! Look at his eyes, don't they look real? And is that a smile on his face?"

"Daddy, my horse is a girl!" And she grinned at him.

Paul stayed down, kneeling on one knee and running his hands over the horse. "This is some fine workmanship, Del . .er, . Ennis."

"Yeah, you think so? Me and Jack been carving and sanding it for awhile now. Jack painted the face… her face." Jack walked over so he could admire the horse too.

"That face really brings HER to life, Jack." Said Paul.

"Well folks, looks like Tom Turkey will be done in another hour or so, all the side dishes are ready and waiting. Ennis, you and Jack be sure to be back here by 6:30 okay? We'll have us a yuletide feast."

"Sure, nuff, Patricia. Wouldn't want that bird gettin cold. See you at 6:30 sharp." And they made to put on their coats and gloves, to leave this little family to their private time.

Paul put his coat and gloves on too, and said. "Be right back, Tricia."

Following them out the door, he said "Can I have a word with you fellas just a minute?" His tone was light, and his face remained pleasant, so Patricia wondered what he was doing now? Why stir up more trouble, right here on Christmas day?

As they stepped out into the cold twilight, Paul closed the door securely. He cleared his throat and looked at them a little sheepish. "Well, I been a total ass, and I just want you to know, I'm sorry about all that. I got my head on straight now. Thanks to Patricia reading me the riot act, that is. And then my mother read it to me too, for good measure."

Both Jack and Ennis said, "We understand" "Rough transition" "It ain't easy." And then one of them said, "Just forget it, we have."

When the air had been thoroughly cleared, Paul looked uneasy again. "Ahem, I uh, need to ask ya a favor, too."

They just looked at him with eyebrows raised. At this rate, they'd never get any lovin before the turkey was ready! (Never mind they already had their "nap" time after their snow ball fight!).

Finally, Ennis said, "whatcha need, Paul?"

"Well, I need help lifting Patricia's Christmas present up here on the porch. Got her a Kenmore automatic washing machine, and I can't life it out a the truck by myself."

The guys were so happy that Paul had enough sense to get Patricia something that would really help her, they started enthusiastically pounding him on the back. "Good man, good man!!"

"Come on; let's get after it before she comes out here to see what's taking you so long." Said Jack.

They set the machine in a dark corner of the porch, and threw a tarp over it. Then they headed off to their bunkhouse with much lighter hearts than they'd expected earlier.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Apparently Paul Porter had spent his time in exile wisely. He seemed to have completely thought about his actions, and set about rectifying them. The Porters went back into the parlor and sat around comfortably, the adults drinking hot cider. Paul let Kara open her gifts without any interference from him.

The first box she opened contained a pair of size 4 Levi's. Real Levi's. They looked so tiny, but just right for a ranch girl. "Now you can dress properly when you're helping Ennis do all his work."

Kara ran and threw her arms around her daddy's neck, "Oh thank you daddy! I love them," Patricia noted the use of Ennis' first name, and just smiled to herself.

The next box contained the key to a cowgirl's heart! Roper boots, brown with pink leather around the top. They were a tiny bit big, but she would grow into them.

To complete the outfit, Paul had gotten Kara a pink and brown plaid western cut shirt.

In addition to clothes, Paul had gotten Kara a toy. He'd had one as a child and couldn't wait to see Kara enjoying her new Slinky! If she liked it, he could see them playing with it on the stairs. But he wasn't going to push or insist. Oh, now that his girl was growing up, they were going to have so much fun!

As soon as they put the children down for a nap, Paul found the mistletoe and positioned Patricia underneath it. He kissed her sweetly, just a little peck and then he said, "Tricia, can you ever forgive me?"

She said "For what; that pitiful kiss?"

"Oh."

And he kissed her thoroughly, getting more and more insistant.

Patricia laughed and pulled away. "Guess I asked for that. Come on, the boys will be back here in no time, let's get dinner dished up and keep it all warm."

"You're keeping me on Warm!" he told her as he grabbed out for her.

She slipped around him, out of reach and told him, "Behave! Gotta put my hair back in my braid, the boys'll think we been up to something!"

Patricia flushed, thinking to herself "Imagine the boys're up to something right about now!"

Paul saw her face turn red, and wondered . . "What?"

"Tell you later. I promise." And off she went to take care of last minute items.

He had not given her a present, she realized. But she thought he'd wait till they were alone tonight. Hmmm, she was looking forward to them being alone tonight, for many reasons.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Oh, I'll never walk again, I'm so full." Groaned Paul.

"Patricia that was fabulous. 'Course we owe it all to me, since I mashed the potatoes." Laughed Jack.

"Whatsa matter with you people?" asked Ennis, "I'm ready for pie!"

They finished their coffee, and the hustle and bustle began of washing up all the pots, pans, bowls, plates, and glasses. It was rare they got to use their wedding china and silver, so this added to their very special occasion.

Ennis placed the last fork in the felt lined box that held the cutlery.

Jack put the stack of dinner plates and dessert plates back in the china cupboard, or what served as one.

The men had insisted on doing the dishes, with Patricia supervising where everything went. She even had her feet up, and rested as she rocked the baby after feeding and burping him.

"Come on, Shad. Time to feed the stock." Kara got her new boots on, and her coat and new gloves and hat. She was all decked out and ready to go with her mama's help.

"Paul, want to come along?" asked Ennis. He readily agreed, going for his coat.

Jack said he was leaving too, so it felt like the party was breaking up. Patricia was sorry it was over. She placed her son down in the cradle and covered him with the new blue blanket Paul had bought him, the one with yellow teddy bears all over it. She walked them all to the door but stood inside, chafing her arms against the cold night air.

Ennis got all the way to the barn when he turned and called "Uh, Paul?"

As Paul looked up to answer, he got a THWACK right in the shoulder. Snow cascaded down his neck and he began to hop around. Kara was shocked that anyone would treat her daddy like that . . but tickled too. She got as big a handful as she could hold, and ran at him with it. "Look out, daddy!" as the snow ball hit his knee!

Ennis had re-loaded by this time, and made a bulls eye against Jack's hat, knocking it to the ground. Jack didn't take time to pack his snow hard, but lobbed soft bombs at Ennis and Paul and Kara, anyone within range.

Paul finally recovered from his shock and started packing a really tight snowball, rubbing it to make it icy. Ennis ran, he tried to make it behind the barn, but Paul had a surprisingly good arm (Ennis didn't know he'd been an outfielder in high school!) and he got chunked really good in the ear. Snow trickled down his neck making him jump around with the tickle of it. He planned his retaliation, but while he was packing a really big snowball, Jack snuck up and shoved a handful of soft snow down his neck.

Kara whispered, "Jack?" and when he bent down to hear her, she pushed a snowy handful down his neck!

They were all breathing hard, laughing and red faced with their exertions. Paul looked meaningfully at Ennis and winked. "Patricia, come on out. I have something for you."

"Ha! I'm on to you, Paul Porter. I'm staying in here where it's safe and warm."

"No, no, I wouldn't do that. You have to come out, your present is outside. It's in the barn, yeah."

"I don't believe you for one minute!"

Jack spoke up, "No, it really is Patricia. He's not lying. Me and Ennis are in on it. It's in the barn."

"Jack Twist, you're every bit as bad as Paul. I don't believe you either. Ennis? What are they up to my trustworthy friend?"

"Seriously, Patricia. Normally I wouldn't trust them if they swore on a stacka bibles, but this time they're telling the truth. Your present is in the barn."

"Well, okay then." And she went to get her coat, boots and gloves. She was really curious what could be in the barn for her.

When she got halfway between the porch and the barn, she got pelted from every side. Her gleeful husband, and his co-horts let her have it big time!

Patricia swooped down to retaliate, but slipped and sat down in the snow. Just then, Kara ran up with a handful and threw it at her mommy, who was laughing so hard there were tears running down her face.

"You lyin sack . . uh guys!" She had remembered in time, that her daughter was right there.

Paul grabbed her under the arms and lifted her up, began brushing her off. "Yeah, we did lie. Your present is not in the barn. We just said that to get you out here."

As he helped her back toward the house, he motioned for Ennis and Jack to follow.

She raised her foot up to the first porch step, and he said. "But your present IS out here on the porch."

"Yeah, right. I wouldn't believe you now if you said the Pope is Catholic."

Only two steps, not a high porch, but out of curiosity, she looked around and saw nothing. As Paul steered her over to the darkest corner of the porch, Kara waited between Jack and Ennis, each holding her hand.

Paul lifted the tarp, and her sharp intake of breath could be heard by all. She screamed, "OH, Paul!" And she started to cry.

"You like it?" He couldn't tell; he still didn't half understand women, particularly, his wife.

She was running her hands all over it, devouring each word, each knob, each feature. "Yes! I wanted one so bad. Thank you!" Then she remembered that they were all in on it, and turned to thank them too, but at the same time, to chide them for being so sneaky. Kara hadn't known ahead of time about the surprise, but she'd long remember how happy she was this night.

Patricia was trembling, only half from surprise and pleasure. She realized she was cold. Paul saw it too, and said, "There's just a couple little gifts hidden inside it. Let me reach them, and we can go inside."

Patricia told the three waiting on the porch, "get your chores done, lickety split, and then come back. We'll all warm up with some hot chocolate." Jack, Kara and Ennis made quick work of the feeding and watering, and headed in to share in the best day they could remember in a long time.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Alone at last, Paul and Patricia made love (tenderly, for the babe still wasn't but a few weeks old) and then held each other gratefully. Both had smiles on their faces. "Ah, Paul. This day was wonderful. Thank you."

"No, thank you. For everything. For throwing me out, for telling me that I was being horrid. . . and everything."

"Did I say 'Horrid'?"

"Not sure, but I was."

Patricia yawned a big yawn, and they realized that the baby would be awake again any time. They discussed what they were going to name him. And she told him outright that she had wanted to name him 'Ennis' right after the birth, she was that grateful for his bravery, tenderness and knowledge. But that Ennis had tried to discourage her.

"What do you think now?"

"I still like it."

"Me too. Let's talk about it again in the morning."

"So, is Ennis the one who's sweet on you, or is it Jack?"

"Honey, you goof! They are sweet on each other!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Meanwhile out in the bunkhouse, there were some mighty happy young fellas, snuggled up tight together, fast asleep.

They did not have a Christmas tree, but a spray of greens hung above the little table, where their gifts to each other were spread out. They hadn't had much money, but each had ordered one big thing for the other, from a catalog. Jack bought Ennis a Carhartt quilted vest to keep his man warm, under his thinning coat, and Ennis had bought Jack a sleek bowie knife with a leather sheath.

On their own, they'd learned to make certain things they knew the other would like. Jack had Patricia teach him to dry cherries, cause he knew Ennis loved them in everything, including just to snack on by themselves. He wrapped those to surprise Ennis, and let him have something to open when they had their own little Xmas celebration.

Ennis knew that Jack was always hungry, and that he was usually far away from the house, tending to fences and stock and such. He made a huge batch of jerky, wrapped it and gave it to Jack to keep in his truck.

They also had a big bowl of brazil nuts, almonds and walnuts on that table, with a nutcracker and picks. For some reason, this made it feel more like Christmas, and more like Home.

.

tbc