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Close your eyes and sleep well, my friend. For you're now safe in the world with no pain.

Sweetest lullaby, little angels smile and sing. Just for you, my dear soul, in the land of forever spring.

Rest in Peace, Heath. You'd been loved and will never be forgotten. This story, although it's nothing compared to what you had done for us fan, is for you.

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You & Me & a Dog Named Flea Chapter 12 "Coffee and Donuts"
Disclaimer : Annie Prouxl owns the timeless characters in BBM. I'm writing from love and making no profit.
Summary : Altinate Universe Fiction of Ennis and Jack (from Brokeback Mountain) set in San Francisco ; Jack Twist had a chance encounter with a veterinarian one day, didn't know the shy vet, and his black and white terrier, would have a permanent place in his heart.
My Deepest Thanks always to Judy, my ultimate beta!
Feedback : means the world to me:)

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Chapter 12 "Coffee and Donuts"

Well, just…move your ass and press the damn buzzer, will you?

Ennis rolled his eyes, then tucked his neck into the warmth of the grey turtleneck he was wearing, digging his hands deeper into his coat pockets. The weather was getting remarkably colder and his face was turning numb. Still he had no idea why he didn't just move inside the building. Sighing, he turned his back to the door of Jack's apartment building for the hundredth time that morning. He wanted to go in, it was freaking arctic and a cup of hot coffee would be a real sweet treat on a cold day like this. But he wasn't so sure if he should buzz Jack's room or call him. Was he up already?

Ennis quietly observed how still everything was, no movement at all, like the city was still in deep sleep. The decoration of some little Christmas trees in front of that baby clothing store reminded him it was only a week 'til Christmas and he had to frown. Shit. It had been a week since Carol asked if he would go back home for Christmas. He hadn't called her back yet. Wonder if she had called again. Um…but he hadn't been home since yesterday morning… Well, Carol always left a message. Maybe after he got Flea from Jack, he would…Ah, are you here to just get Flea from Jack?

Really?

Is this what you wanna do? Is this why you've been standing here shaking with cold and anxiety?

There was the sound of a door opening. He turned his head to see a woman walk out from Jack's apartment building. She held the door open and smiled at him. "Are you coming in?"

"Yes, ma'am." He smiled back at her. "Thank you."

And he found himself walking up the stairs, the same ones he had been sort of dragged over by Jack a couple of days ago. The day his life had changed completely. And he was standing in front of Jack's apartment door in a minute, panting a little. He heard a scratching sound from behind the door so he crouched down and chuckled. It seemed the little fella knew he was here. Flea's doggie nose sure worked faster than Jack himself, who must be sleeping late on Sunday morning. But then, the door opened and, much to his surprise, he was looking up at shirtless Jack.

"Hi," Jack said, his voice thick with sleep, but his grin erased the drowsiness from his face almost instantly. "About time. Flea's been restless for like ten minutes."

Oh.

"He always know you're around?"

"Yep." Ennis hauled Flea up and rubbed his belly, watching as Jack walked back to his bed and propped himself up on his elbow. Jack's silky broad chest was too bright, like summer sun at noon, so bright Ennis had to keep his eyes on the floor for fear of getting burned and blinded.

"How's the clinic?" he heard Jack ask. Ennis looked at the kitchen, the dog food was there, the fat package leaning against the counter.

"Busy…we've got Elvis, a very sick dog. He can't walk."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." And there was an empty soup bowl lying face down near the white table. That might be Flea's temporary food bowl from last night.

"Ennis."

"His back is broken. We might have to transfer him to the bigger clinic if it gets worse." Also, there was a torn newspaper in front of the bathroom, which was no doubt one of chewing Flea's masterpieces that had been created overnight.

"Ennis, look at me." And he did. He looked at Jack for a brief moment, looked down again, his heart racing as fast as an express train. "Come here, Ennis. Come on, it's alright."

Ennis's chest rose and fell and he sighed as he slowly walked up to Jack on his bed, shoulders slumped in defeat. He couldn't resist this anymore. He wanted this, wanted it so bad he might explode or even break down and cry.

"It's alright," Jack whispered, scooted over on the side of the bed and reached one hand out to grip his arm, the other drawing Ennis's face closer, his palm warm and steady. Flea jumped down from Ennis's embrace and the thudding sound when his feet met the floor was the last thing Ennis's brain registered 'cause then their lips touched and everything just didn't matter anymore.

It was different from the other night, their first night together, which Ennis hardly remembered. That night everything had been so fast and frantic, almost all about physical release when two men finally succumbed to the mutual forbidden attraction. And it was easier that way, if Ennis was honest with himself. But it was different this time, even the kiss felt different. He didn't know how Jack did it but once Jack's wet and warm lips hovered gently on his, kissing suddenly felt like making love.

"Take it off." Shivering, Ennis easily let Jack pull the turtleneck over his head, closing his eyes as Jack combed his tousled hair back gently. He just stayed there, eyes closed and vulnerable. More kisses on his hair and forehead and Ennis moved his hands up Jack's torso, hearing Jack's breath hiss, "Just don't think about it now, Ennis. Let it go. Come on."

And they kissed again, more urgently as their hands started to roam more freely over each other's body, fingers digging and crawling as if touching wasn't enough. It seemed like eternity until they shifted on their sides, Jack whispered something about lube and condom and Ennis just complied, then buried his face in Jack's shoulder as he thrust into Jack from behind, both of them grunting and moaning together.

Ennis knew this must be wrong, must be a sin in some people's book. But he didn't know what else he could do. This was what he wanted, being with Jack, sleeping with him, holding him, thrusting into him and drawing out shivering moans of pleasure from him like this. This, he wanted. But could he have it?

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Jack was dreaming of the ocean. He was lying…nah…he was actually rolling around, laughing like crazy when sand seemed to stick to every part of his body and some even got inside of his nose and ears. He felt free and on top of the world, king of the world, he was.

But as he was peacefully enjoying the stillness of the beautiful world, the ground shook. Jack sat up and looked around. Earthquake? No. What the hell is that? Birds screamed and flew out of the cave behind him while the ground shook some more. Panicked, Jack turned around and what he saw almost made him faint. Lots and lots of animals were running his way, horses, lions, giraffes, elephants, crabs? Where the hell am I? Jumanji?

He looked for a place to hide but the nearest tree was like a mile away. So he covered himself with his arms and scrunched down the best he could, screamed at the top of his lungs when animals ran madly past him.

"Get away!" Jack flung his arm, it hit something and he sprang up straight, his eyes popped wide open, finally bringing him back from dream land. "Jesus fucking Christ, damn!" He panted then started to laugh at the stupid dream. Then he stopped as the thudding sound continued and he realized finally that he was in his room and whatever that sound was, it was coming from this room, not from some stupid Jumanji dream.

But Jack's will to find out the source of the sound disappeared momentarily when he looked down and found Ennis's arm draped over his torso. Ennis was still asleep on his belly, his head kind of pressed to Jack's shoulder, his face relaxed and peaceful, and Jack gave in to the urge to kiss the man whose kiss was the sweetest. He touched his lips gently on Ennis's temple and his slightly parted lips before swinging one of his feet down onto the floor.

And there, right there in front of the door, he found the inspiration of his Jumanji dream. Flea was running in circles like some crazy bull in a rodeo competition, sniffing, then running around again, the thudding sound probably echoing to the room downstairs. Now what was that? Some kind of doggie ritual dance…?

"Ennis…" Jack shook Ennis's arm. "Ennis, wake up."

"Wha…" Ennis murmured into the pillow, stretched a little and opened one sleepy eye at Jack, couldn't quite focus. Jack grinned.

"Jesus, I want to kiss you so bad right now but that has to wait." Jack smacked Ennis again. "Obviously we have a situation here."

"Huh?" Still couldn't focus.

"What's wrong with Flea? Is he dancing or something?" Jack asked and watched as Ennis pushed himself up on the bed, shivered a bit as the cool air hit his naked body. Ennis's sleepy expression changed into panic.

"What time is it?"

"A little after nine."

"Shit." And within a second, Ennis jumped off the bed into his old jeans and rumpled turtleneck that had been tossed on the floor, leaving Jack's huge eyes following the hasty movement in wonder.

"What the hell's happening, Ennis?"

"Poo time at nine."

Oh fuck. Jack didn't need any more explanation than that. He sprang out of bed and snatched jeans and t-shirt from the closet, rubbed the sleep off his face and rushed after Ennis, who had practically hauled Flea up and out the door, running as fast as if the building was on fire or something.

They made it to the nearest park in two minutes, both bending down, panting like mad while Flea continued his ritual dance for a short moment and settled near the bench at last. And Jack chuckled. Suddenly everything was too funny, he couldn't keep his face straight anymore. First that stupid-ass Jumanji dream, Flea's exotic ritual dance, then this, and for God's sake, they were in such a hurry neither of them had brought a poo bag or paper or something to clean up the mess.

"God," Jack took a deep breath, trying to stop giggling, but when he met Ennis's eyes that were now sparkling with amusement, they both burst out laughing again.

"What's so funny?" Ennis asked finally, watching Jack throw himself down on the bench, still chuckling softly himself. "You should be grateful you won't have to clean up your room."

Jack just smiled, "How can you do that?"

"What?"

"Train him to poo on time."

"I didn't do that. He doesn't poo or pee inside buildings normally. I just have to keep my eyes on him whenever he does the dance," Ennis said with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up." Jack rolled his eyes. "I never had a dog before. How the hell would I know? But, Ennis, what're we gonna do about Flea's little creation?"

They turned their attention to the little creation of Flea on the ground and Ennis looked around. Flea chased a butterfly at the other not-so-far corner of the small park, totally into his doggie world. Ennis was going to find some dry leaves or paper but Jack had a better idea.

"I'm going to buy some donuts and coffee and ask if they've got something, papers, napkins, something. And we need to eat anyway."

"Ok."

"You want something else?"

"Um…" Ennis shook his head. "Donuts are fine."

"Alright." Jack jumped up on his feet. "Be back in a minute. You guard the creation now."

"Get outta here." Ennis shoved Jack, who ran away laughing. Flea looked like he wanted to follow but Jack told him to stay and, to Ennis's surprise, he obeyed.

Jack didn't look back as he took a long-stride walk to the other side of the road for fear that Ennis would change his mind and shout after him 'Don't bother, I'm going back home' or something. A few minutes later, he queued up behind a couple of people, waiting to pay for six donuts and two cups of espresso to go, and smiled down at his feet, remembering what had happened. They'd had sex again for the second time and it was great sex, too. But it wasn't just sex. It was… Damn, there was a connection and Jack couldn't recall the last time he'd had such a connection during sex. Not with Brent. Well, he and Brent hadn't really had sex anyway, not really.

Jack had only had two serious relationships with women, one in high school, and it had ended badly. They'd said goodbye after the prom when he insisted on going to college out of state, leaving Wyoming to go somewhere warmer and out of his old man's pool of hatred, upon an empty promise of a long-distance relationship which they both knew wouldn't last.

"Eight sixty-seven, sir."

Jack startled and smiled at the lady behind the donut counter. Thanks to her, he was back to the present at last. Jack paid and asked for some additional napkins, couldn't help but wonder why he thought about Cathy, that was her name, again. It'd been a long time and she might have like three kids already, God knew why she seemed to pop up in his head now and again. Maybe deep down, Jack still felt sorry their relationship had ended that way but that guilt could be the reason why he'd treated his second girlfriend better. Her name was April. They'd shared a room for two and a half years and he'd even told her he loved her, with a cake on her 23rd birthday. But Jack had learned something new in that relationship, too, that saying 'I Love You' to a woman couldn't scratch the itch to be touched by a strong, firm man's body.

Well, dating Brent had been different though…in theory and in practice, too. He really didn't have a clue about 'gay love' and stuff at first. Shithead Lee used to carry the 'how to' books for gay men around just to make him mad when he and Brent first started going out. But Jack didn't really care. Actually, he did know something about the birds and the bees but he just didn't want to rush. Kissing and touching were fine really. Brent was a great kisser and knew just where to touch him and rile him up good. But something wasn't right there and Jack knew he could quote all the reasons in the world to support this; how his hands were too soft on him so that his touch tickled or how his grip on Jack's waist was sometimes too strong, too possessive. He could go as far as to how his hair looked too dark at night but the truth was there was only one reason. Brent wasn't Ennis.

Hell, he had treated all of his exes so badly. Now he was practically running after Ennis. Was this God's way of punishing him or something?

When Jack walked back to the park, Ennis had already managed to clean up Flea's creation, saying some dog's owner gave him a poo-bag. And they went back to the apartment, talking in soft, private voices of stuff in general; how Jack wanted his donuts to be as sweet as cane sugar and how Ennis thought creamy donuts went better with espresso. Jack's stomach growled merely at the talk and they laughed, speeding their steps until they reached the apartment.

Jack put the donuts and coffee on the kitchen counter and disappeared into the bathroom, threw a toothbrush at Ennis. "Use this, Ennis. I got a spare one. And the towels are in the closet." And he walked off to the kitchen, giving Ennis some privacy 'cause he was pretty sure what Ennis was thinking. Spending the night together was one thing but taking a shower and having breakfast together the morning after was another story. This was the moment of truth, where the awkwardness would bloom like ugly black ink on water if one of them didn't want to go further than having a one-night stand. He didn't want that and he hoped like hell Ennis wouldn't either.

After like a minute, Ennis murmured, "Can I use your computer after this? I need to finish the column."

"Sure." Then Jack smiled down at the chocolate donuts when he heard the sound of the bathroom door close.

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I'm writing and eating donuts and coffee in the apartment of a man I slept with, and feeling wonderful. Um…Christ.

Ennis looked around. Flea was playing with his ball quietly on the creamy rug near the sofa, his fast-becoming-favorite spot, and Jack was fumbling with his laundry in front of the bathroom with one hand still holding onto a donut, his hair dark-wet from water. The re-run NBA game was left barely noticed on T.V. with occasional snorts and swears from either one or both of them when someone scored points. They would exchange a glance or a smile or two and turn back to what they were doing, Ennis with his writing and Jack with his own little NBA game of shooting his balled T-shirts into the hamper, cheering himself like some damn sports DJ.

It was like they'd been spending Sunday like this forever.

"What you usually do on Sunday?" Ennis found himself asking.

Jack shrugged, "Sleep until like noon. Do some laundry, some shopping, hang out with friends. You?"

"Just about the same except that hanging out part. I don't have that many friends in the city."

"How long have you been here?"

"Um…" Ennis crossed his arms. "Almost three years. Actually it'll be three years at Christmas. Yep…" He nodded to the surprised look on Jack's face. "I moved up here at Christmas and stayed at Mona's place for like a month before I got a job."

Jack thought about what Alma had told him. "You and Mona grew up together?"

"Sort of. She's Carol's best friend and we're neighbors, too. She's like a sister." Ennis smiled. "Gets on my nerves more than Carol sometimes."

"Wow, bet that was nice. I grew up absolutely alone. My daddy took care of his cows better than me…." Jack trailed off when he realized what he had said. He shrugged again, wishing it could clear away the uneasiness that almost eclipsed the bright morning, talking about his mean old man like that. "But that was the past. I try not to think about that dark spot of my life much. Daddy is happy there without me around now, so I guess I'm a good son for leaving home."

"His loss," Ennis said quietly and Jack looked up at him, suddenly couldn't hardly breathe as Ennis sneaked a look up through his thick lashes, Ennis who had pulled on one of Jack's white t-shirts, his body and hair smelling of Jack's soap and shampoo. After a minute of silence, Jack could finally manage a smile.

"Thank you, Ennis, I don't think he feels the same but…it's…actually nice to hear that." He cleared his throat. "How's the column?"

"Almost done," Ennis said, seemed delighted that the tide of the conversation had changed. "Where're the pictures you took yesterday?"

"My Pictures. Listen, Ennis, you want some time alone to finish writing? I mean, I can just go to the Laundromat so you can write quietly by yourself."

"You don't really have to do that, Jack. This is your place."

Jack simply smiled, "One advantage of dating a man is he doesn't mind if you want to be alone. He will even come back with lunch. What do you want to eat?"

Ennis flinched a little and Jack held out his hands and sighed, "Shit, sorry. I'm moving too fast, am I?" Ennis just shrugged. "It's ok, Ennis, really. So? What do you want to eat?"

"Um…I don't know. I'm not that choosy."

Jack smirked, "Anything but cereal, right?"

Ennis picked up some brochures that were lying on the table and threw them at Jack, who just laughed louder. He watched Jack gather his clothes and stuff his wallet and cell phone in the back of his jeans, whistling a nameless tune as he grabbed his coat. Flea barked, sensing the opportunity to go out. Ennis held out Flea's leash, "Take Flea, I mean if you want. He looks bored."

"Oh yeah," Jack walked back to get Flea's leash from Ennis. He grabbed both the leash and Ennis's fingers as he leant his hips on the edge of the table, looking down at the sweet brown eyes, their fingers loosely lacing. Jack ran his free hand through Ennis's golden curls, watching them swirl around his fingers, and smiled absentmindedly. Ennis was glancing up at him, his eyes questioning but willing, soft but fierce at the same time. Jack rubbed his knuckles on Ennis's stubbled jaw. "Can I kiss you? I mean…"

But there was no reluctance as they moved at the same time, their lips meeting in an open-mouthed kiss that continued for several minutes as they played a little game of hide and seek with their lips and tongues. And when Jack let his teeth come out and play, Ennis was the one who backed away with a chuckle and a teasing shove on Jack's chest. And with one last look over his shoulder, Jack was out the door.

When he was left alone in the apartment, Ennis could concentrate on writing until he found his pictures in Jack's My Pictures folder and just blinked at them for like an hour. He knew Jack had admitted to take Ennis's photo earlier and he had taken a lot of pictures yesterday, more than once turning to focus his camera on him. But still, seeing his pictures there was making things real again.

Maybe he was gay, maybe not, but one thing was for sure, he was attracted to Jack for real and, like a drug, it kept him coming back for more.

Shaking his head, Ennis got up and walked to the bookshelf, hoping to find some distraction so he could go back to finish the column. There was a small picture holder and what he found inside made his stomach flip. It was a group picture of about ten people taken inside a room somewhere, not this room, but a bigger room with lots of chairs. Jack was smiling in the middle of the picture, Grant (was that his name?) was sitting on his left side, holding a can of Budweiser, the guy with red hair who was with Grant at the clinic that night was smiling cheekily behind him. Another black-haired man was kneeling with one knee up on Jack's right, his arm around Jack's torso, his long fingers splayed possessively over Jack's chest.

Another thing was for sure, Jack was gay and obviously had dated someone who…probably gave him anything he wanted as far as a 'boyfriend' could. And Ennis had to wonder if in this life he could ever give Jack what he wanted or not.

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"Hey, Grant."

"Hey, handsome." Grant's chuckle traveled across the connection to his ears and Jack had to smile. "What's up?"

"I'm good. You sound great. What's new?"

"Oh, I'm the boss today. Someone wants to clean up the room after the session ends. Hey! Where do you think you're going, Lee!?!"

Jack snorted, "Shit, Grant. You still punishing him? I thought washing dishes three nights in a row was about enough."

"It is, but today is the last day. So we got a big clean-up to do at the Velvet. He said he wanted to help and I always welcome all the help I can get," Grant said cheerfully. "So how are things, Jackey? Where are you? Some dog park? I can hear some barking. Since when do you have a dog? Don't tell me because Ennis is a vet and all. That's some teenage girl's trick and it won't work that well with us gay men, you know."

Jack laughed and bent down to rub Flea's head and let him lead the way up the little hill ahead of them, with him barking sharply at every moving thing from sparrows to kids on their scooters.

They were going to buy lunch and Jack took the opportunity to call Grant. He was half-worried about Lee, something he didn't quite understand why he should care about. But he also wanted to know what Grant's reaction was like after the day Lee had showed up unexpectedly at his office. Grant acted the same as usual and Jack had a feeling Lee hadn't told Grant how he really felt.

"Nah, not my dog. It's his dog."

Silence. And Jack could just picture Grant's face right now. Concerned.

"Damn, Jack. Don't you think you're going too fast?"

"I know. But I want this to happen, Grant. I know how I feel and I'm not going to do this half-assed. You should be the one knowing me the best."

"I do and that scares me." Grant sighed. "Where is him? Don't tell me…" He trailed off as he could slowly figure the answer to that question by himself. How Jack was with Ennis's dog on Sunday morning. "Oh my God."

"Yeah…"

"Hell…"

Jack smiled ruefully, "I want him to meet you, Grant. And I mean really meet."

"I want to really meet him, too, but that can wait. There's something you need to do before that, I believe." Grant stopped talking. It seemed he was walking out of the room for a more private place for private matters. "Brent's here. He was at Bay and Bridge last night and drank himself to sleep at the counter."

Shit. Jack closed his eyes and inhaled shakily. "Jesus. Was he alright?"

"No, he looked bad. He didn't even speak to me."

"Shit, I'm sorry, Grant. I…"

"That's not what I mean, Jack," Grant cut in. "Shit happens, but you can't let it slide. You know what to do, right?"

"Yeah," Jack whispered. "If Brent doesn't want my apology, I will just stand there and let him punch me or throw stuff at me or something. I deserve that."

"And you know where I am after that throwing war ends. Maybe you can bring Ennis and I'll give you guys free beers."

Jack smiled again but his heart was heavy. "Thanks, Grant."

"But this Ennis, he's something else. I don't even let my man feed Pepe, let alone take her out. I can't believe he let you have his dog."

"Me neither…You're at the Bay and Bridge the whole week, right?"

"Yes. And knowing Brent, I'm pretty sure he will be there most nights, too, you know, just to sit there like a corpse and remind me that I have a part in this or something."

Jack felt like shit. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this in the first place."

"Don't worry about me, Jacky. Brent and I go way back…I mean…I don't think it's permanent. But you and he, it's another story. Just call first, ok? Maybe you need some back-up troops."

Jack chuckled despite everything, "Yeah, but you have to make sure Lee is locked up good somewhere, I don't care if I'm outnumbered as long as he's not there."

Grant laughed. "Ok. Now take care, you hear?"

Jack didn't know how he could summon the strength to buy lunch and go back to his apartment with a hamper full of clean clothes and Flea by his side. But when he realized, he found himself standing at the bottom of his bed where Ennis was sleeping on his side, chest rising and falling in rhythm. He'd said he'd had a busy night, must be double tired from writing. Without thinking about anything, Jack took off his coat and shoes and slid up behind Ennis, resting his head on the man's nape and hugging his body close. And Jack soon fell asleep, too, his heart still weighing heavy with untied knots.

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They woke up with a start from the vibration of Ennis's phone on the nightstand. The sky had turned relatively darker but it must have been only around four or five for Flea hadn't yet whined for his dinner. Ennis groped for his phone, murmuring a hello and snuggling back in the crook of Jack's neck, sighing when Jack's arms went around him tighter.

"Morning, Tiger! You still sleeping?"

Shit. Ennis rubbed his eyes and moved away a little. Mona's voice from the phone was loud enough for both of them to hear. "Kinda, yeah…"

Mona talked some more about dinner and Christmas and back to dinner again but Ennis could hardly focus 'cause Jack was staring at him so close. The heat from his body spread throughout the sheet and seeped into his skin.

If he hadn't been so sure about what he wanted this morning – which he thought he had been pretty much certain, Ennis realized things couldn't be surer now. This was what he wanted, the affectionate and strong embrace of Jack to keep him warm and safe, not dinner with Mona nor Christmas at home, just being in this small room with Jack was enough.

Jack still stared and Ennis couldn't look away either, Mona's talking becoming like some street noise from outside the window as he wondered how a man's eyes could say so much just by looking. 'I want you', 'we don't have to do anything, just stay' and he felt Jack's arms grow tighter around his waist, his hand slipping inside his T-shirt and caressing his naked skin, 'stay with me.'

And Ennis muttered 'goodnight, I have to go' or something like that, he wasn't quite sure, into the phone and hung up. His cell phone landed somewhere on the bed as Jack crawled on top of him and kissed his lips, murmuring incoherent words until Ennis relaxed and sagged back on the bed. But he could catch something: "You make me crazy, Ennis Del Mar."

Ennis closed his eyes and buried his nose in Jack's hair.

Can I do this? Am I ok to do what I want to do now? I have done what I've been told for the rest of my life. Can I just be myself for a second, a minute, or an hour? Can I?

Jack kissed away all the doubt and Ennis gasped, clutching Jack tightly.

And like a ship with an anchor being pulled up, Ennis let go, feeling his body float away to somewhere where there was no more Ennis Del Mar, just this man who wanted to stay in the other man's embrace forever and be gone, gone and lost in Jack and never come back to live in the real world.

And you make me crazy, Jack Twist.

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"Mona, I don't think this is a good idea."

"We'll just stop by to see him at work, no harm done. Besides, didn't you say the owner of the clinic is your godfather?"

Alma sighed and dutifully nodded. Both of them had just had a nice dinner and Mona insisted on dropping by the clinic to say 'hi' to Ennis and Alma's godfather before going home. But they only found a black woman behind the counter there. She smiled at them, "Good evening."

"Hi," Mona stepped in and looked around. "We're here to see Ennis…"

"Dr. Del Mar?" Martha crooked her brow, "I'm sorry but he asked for a night off."

"A night off?" Mona blinked. "Is he sick?"

Martha shrugged lightly, "I have no idea but he sounded fine. Maybe he's got some errands to do."

And she excused herself to do her work on the computer, leaving Mona and Alma looking at each other in wonder.

And that minute Dr. Brown came down the stairs and Mona watched him and Alma hug before she was introduced to the bald vet, still couldn't stop pondering Ennis's absence. Ennis had never taken a night off, well, if he wasn't sick to death, which had never happened before anyway. He hadn't even skipped school or church when he was younger, always a good, nice and mellow kid. This was weird. Mona couldn't help but wonder what Ennis's 'errands' could possibly be.

TBC

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Thank you all for reading. Chapter 13 is also here, so…hope you'll enjoy :)