Milestones part 14-by Trekfan (aka Linda)

Disclaimer in part 1

Note all thoughts are in parenthesis ' '

Valerie noticed it was time for her patient's meds, Dr. Moore should be making his rounds soon. She had distributed all of her patient's meds. Except for one, which she left for last. She wandered into his room.

"Hello again Mr. Del Mar, I'm Valerie I'm one of the nurses that is going to be caring for you." She walked over to him, "Here are some painkillers Dr. Moore prescribed for you." She gave him the small cup with pills and poured him some water to wash them down. She was looking him over like she was studying a work of art. Dark blond hair, handsome facial features and beautiful brown eyes. A sound from the doorway caught her attention. Another handsome man, this one dark haired, nice body and the prettiest blue eyes you'd ever see was standing by the doorway.

"Can I help you, sir?"

"No ma'am, just came to visit my partner." Jack strolled in, he wished he could have said husband, but partner applied too, was more neutral and a term he knew Ennis wouldn't cringe over.

"Mornin Ennis, how ya feelin?" he moved closer to the bed.

"Mornin, Jack, I'm doin good. Cain't wait to get out of this hospital."

Jack looked at the nurse, noticed her nametag, "So is he doin good Valerie?"

She was taken aback by this stranger, felt like he was an intruder when he first entered the room and interrupted her time with Ennis.

"He's doing well, but you'll have to get the details from Dr. Moore, he should be making rounds about now. Mr..?

"Jack Twist, ma'am," he introduced himself

"Well, Mr. Twist, I'll leave you two alone."

She slowly left the room, feeling both men glancing at her as she walked out. She felt a slight blush of embarrassment, but also a thrill to have started her day with two gorgeous men. The blue eyed one, Jack, was very beautiful, but after he reminded her of her ex boyfriend. Except her ex boyfriend was an abusive creep. Besides she felt something for the strong, silent type like Ennis. She smiled as she thought about the handsome blond man. The rest of her day was routine and before she knew it it was the end of her shift.

Gloria Donner came on duty and did a report with one of the other nurses and then Valerie came over and gave her report.

"I see Mr. Del Mar should be walking around."

"Yeah Dr. Moore wants him up and I was just about to go coax him out of bed." Valerie's shift had ended and she was tired and should really be going home, but she was reluctant to leave her new patient.

"It's okay, Valerie, you go on home, you've had a long day. I'll see you tomorrow."

Gloria smiled at her and walked towards Ennis' room.

Valerie watched her go, a spark of jealousy ran through her. She wasn't sure what was coming over her, but she was falling for the handsome blond man. She grabbed her coat and purse and left. Later that night as she slept she had some very erotic dreams about Ennis. He was in her apartment and they started off necking on the couch then he scooped her up in his arms and carried her off to the bedroom where things got really hot. She had a smile on her face.

Jack was sitting in the chair next to Ennis' bed when Gloria came in.

"Hello there, I'm Gloria, I'm the night nurse. Dr. Moore would like you to be ambulatory." She walked to the other side of the bed and pulled down the railing.

"What does amboo, watchamacallit mean?" Ennis groused.

"It means he wants you up and about. It's important that you move around, get the circulation going." She began to pull the blanket off Ennis but he pushed it back.

"I ain't getting up now I'm tired." Ennis was being stubborn as ever.

"Mr. Del Mar, the sooner we get you walking the faster your recovery will go and the faster you'll be able to go home." Ennis wasn't budging.

Jack got up, "Allow me ma'am."

Jack threw the covers off of Ennis and carefully maneuvered Ennis' legs off the side of the bed. "Come on, Ennis, ya heard the nurse. Sooner yer walkin the sooner we can get the hell outta here. Now quit yer hammerin and let's go!" he held out his hand, but Ennis wouldn't take it. He slowly put his feet on the floor and started to stand up, as soon as he put his full weight on his feet he winced in pain and reached out to grab something to hold onto. Jack was his anchor.

"It's okay, cowboy, I gotcha." Jack's arms wrapped around Ennis' chest. "We'll take it nice and slow." They slowly walked towards the window. Ennis stopped to catch his breath, then looked out into the lit parking lot. They stood there and watched, Ennis holding Jack's arm in a neutral way cause the nurse was still with them and he didn't want to give her any ideas about the true nature of their relationship.

"Very good Mr. Del Mar," she watched him slowly make his way back to the bed. Jack supported him as he climbed back into bed.

"You'll be sore for a while, but you'll be fine." She turned to Jack, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave now Mr..."

"Jack Twist, ma'am."

"Mr. Twist, I have to change your friend's bandages and check his vitals, as soon as I'm done you can come back." Jack squeezed Ennis' hand, smiled at Ennis and left the room.

Jack came back a few minutes later, saw his cowboy propped up, blanket pulled up and his face turned away. He quietly came over to the bed and grabbed his hand and caressed Ennis' cheek with the other. Jack had made sure the door was closed so they were alone. He leaned over and kissed Ennis softly on the lips. "Love ya rodeo, know what I wanna do?" he opened his eyes and looked at Jack.

"No tell me."

"I wanna get you home and make mad, passionate love to ya." He laid his palm on Jack's cheek and smiled at him.

"Ain't that sumthin?" Jack kissed him again and whispered into his ear "I wanna do the same to you."

"Probably won't be able to cause of this here." He indicated his bandaged middle.

"That ain't never stopped us, before when it was me all bandaged up," he winked at Ennis, "don't worry, sweetheart we'll manage. Ain't nothing is stoppin us from lovin one another."

"Yeah," 'yawn' "Yer right," his eyes started to close.

"You'd better get some shut eye. I'll be back tomorrow mornin after I run some errands." Jack told him he needed to check a feed order, pick up some supplies for the ranch and check out some more stock Ben Meyer had told him about.

"Yer gonna be so good runnin the ranch, whattya gonna need me fer?"

"Cowboy I can't run that ranch without you, I'm just checkin into things then we're gonna sit down and talk it all over and then I wanna hear what ya gotta say, understand?"

"Yeah," Ennis smiled, yawned again and closed his eyes.

"Night sweetheart," Jack kissed him.

"Night darlin."

Jack went home to the lonely bed once again, sleepin on Ennis' side. He couldn't wait to bring his husband home, he missed him something awful, hopefully in a few days this side of the bed would be filled with the familiar warm body of his cowboy. He closed his eyes and was fast asleep.

Early next morning Ennis woke to the vision of a red headed woman opening the blinds.

"Morning Mr. Del Mar, I'm going to take your vitals." She put a BP cuff on him and took his temperature and pulse.

"Uh, ma'am," Ennis asked, his voice scratchy from disuse.

"You can call me Valerie, Ennis. Oh I hope you don't mind me calling you Ennis." She said coyly.

"S' my name, can I have something to drink?"

"Sure, I have a breakfast tray for you." She brought the tray for him and had to leave to take care of other patients in her care.

She was about to give him a sponge bath when she returned a short while later the dark haired guy was back visiting.

"Oh hello again, Jack is it?"

"Yes Valerie."

"Well you'll have to leave for a bit it's time for Ennis' sponge bath." Most men would love to have a woman give them a sponge bath.

"No ma'am, I'm sorry but ya cain't do that." Ennis told her, the only other person he'd let bathe him, besides himself, was Jack.

"What? Ennis you have to have a bath."

"I'm sorry ma'am but I cain't let you do that."

"Look I give plenty of sponge baths, it's important otherwise you could risk an infection. Now you wouldn't want that would you?" She was getting annoyed.

"I believe he said no." Jack was becoming defensive.

"But..."

"Miss. Sinclair I believe the patient is uncomfortable with you bathing him. If there is a male nurse present then maybe he can do it." Dr. Moore had come into the room during the exchange.

Ennis and Jack both flinched at that idea too.

"Tom isn't on duty right now." He was the only male nurse assigned to this floor.

"We'll I guess I'll have to give him one."

Dr. Moore shooed her out of the room. He almost laughed at her shocked expression. She walked off to the nurse's station in a huff.

"What's the matter, Valerie?" Betty the other nurse on duty asked.

"Oh Dr. Moore just threw me out of a patient's room."

"Is that room 144?"

"Yeah why?"

"Was there a dark haired man with him?"

"Yes Betty why? What's going on?" her curiosity was piqued.

"Well there's a rumor going around that these two fellas are more than friends."

"What? What do you mean more than friends?"

"Well maybe they're 'special' friends, IF you know what I mean." She winked at Valerie.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I saw Mr. Del Mar's daughters visiting him yesterday. He isn't..."

"Well from what I heard he's divorced and this Jack Twist guy is his partner."

"Yeah he told me that, they're business partners."

"Sure they're business partners, they're also other kind of partner too." Betty took her right hand and bent it at the wrist making her hand bow down in a gesture that was effeminate.

"Oh come off it Betty, have you looked at these guys? You're trying to tell me they're gay?"

"That's the scuttlebutt."

"Well I don't believe it."

"Do you want me to leave, doc?" Jack asked after the nurse had left.

"No I think the most important thing is a patient's wellbeing, it's paramount to his recovery. And since it's important that a patient feel comfortable with his caretaker," Dr. Moore had a basin filled with warm water and a sponge. "Here," he handed the sponge to Jack who stood there with his mouth open looking from the sponge back to the doctor.

"I'm going to change Ennis' bandages then you can start bathing him. Just remember to avoid getting the bandages wet." The doctor pulled off the old bandages, mixed up the antibiotics and put them onto Ennis' wound and put on fresh sterile bandages. "Okay you're all set, just wash around the bandage. I'll be back later to check on Ennis."

"Doc, when do ya think I'll be able to get out of here?"

"Well if you keep improving at this rate I'd say in about 2 or 3 days, but you have to get out of that bed and walk around. Get your strength back."

"Don't worry, doc, I'll take care of him. Get this cowboy movin."

Dr. Moore smiled at them. "I'm sure you will." He left.

Jack and Ennis looked at each other, Jack went over and locked the door then came back to give his husband a bath.

He pulled back the hospital gown and exposed Ennis' chest. He ran his hand over Ennis' cheek then his chest. "I been missin this cowboy, missin you so bad." A tear ran down his cheek, Ennis reached out with his fingers and brushed it away.

"I'm comin home, darlin, I miss ya real bad. I want ya." He whispered in Jack's ear, "Are ya gonna give me that bath or do I gotta call that nurse back in here?"

"Oh no ain't nobody gonna touch this body except me." Jack took the sponge and wiped Ennis' handsome face then his chest, down his stomach being very careful to avoid the bandages. It didn't take long to notice Ennis' cock coming to full attention.

"Easy cowboy we cain't do no ridin just now." He ran the sponge over Ennis' feet and legs all the way to his thighs but avoided his groin area. He leaned Ennis forward and did his back, pushed him on his side and rubbed the sponge up between Ennis' butt cheeks. The sponge wormed it's way between his legs, Jack kissed Ennis' hip and lower spine, he hand rubbed the sponge over his cock, "yer so beautiful, I cain't wait for you to come home."

"Are ya gonna warsh me like this at home?" Jack dried Ennis off and put the hospital gown back on then he kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear, his breath hot against Ennis' skin. "I'm gonna wash ya like ya ain't been washed before, till yer pink all over." He licked his ear lobe. "I gotta go now sweetheart. I'll be back later, you just concentrate on getting well." They kissed. "I love ya. See ya later."

"Okay," Ennis smiled as he saw Jack unlock the door and leave. He couldn't help enjoy watching his man's back view leaving.

"A short while later Valerie came back. "Well Ennis it's time to take a walk," she helped him sit up and helped him stand.

"Where are we gonna walk to?" Ennis asked.

"The solarium is down the hall."

"Solarium?"

"It's a sunroom, it has a nice sitting area and there is a path to the garden, come on let's go." She helped him walk out of the room. She intertwined her arm in his and they slowly strolled down the hallway.

They made it to the sunroom, no one was there and they sat down near the large windows.

"So Ennis, are ya from Spotted Horse?"

"Naw I was livin in Riverton, moved up here a few months ago."

"I'm originally from Cheyenne, I went to nursing school in Gillette and I got sent up here as part of a my schooling. This is my last year as a student nurse."

"Ya like nursin, my youngest daughter is startin school, she wants to be a nurse."

"Well that's nice, I saw your daughters when they were leaving, they look just like you. Your wife must be proud."

"I don't have a wife no more, we got divorced."

"I'm sorry, you must be pretty lonely, I just ended a bad relationship, my boyfriend thought he owned me. I decided enough was enough so I left. Hey maybe after you get out of the hospital we can go out for coffee sometime."

The pleasant morning had taken an awkward turn for Ennis. He didn't know what to say to Valerie without telling her about him and Jack. He slowly got up and started walking back to his room. Valerie followed him. When he was settled back in bed he decided to tell her. "I'm sorry, Valerie, I cain't go out with ya."

"Well why not Ennis, it's only coffee. Besides I ain't pretty enough?"

"No ma'am, I'm already spoken for," Ennis felt a knot in his stomach and it was getting tighter by the minute.

"Spoken for? Well I'm not surprised you got a girlfriend, a handsome guy like you."

Ennis could have left this alone, could have let her think he had a girlfriend. But after twenty years of hiding away in the mountains with Jack it was about time he spoke up. Jack wasn't just a fuck buddy, he was never really that at all. He was so much more and now he was his husband, and Ennis had never been ashamed of Jack, but he'd been afraid of letting people know about their relationship. But this is the 80's not the 50's or 60's, 'are ya gonna hide all your life Ennis,' he thought to himself.

"Nope don't got a girl." The knot was now looking worse than a pretzel.

"What are you saying, Ennis? You're not saying you're gay are you?"

"I ain't queer!" he yelled. 'I ain't, there's just Jack, no other guy better ever get any ideas different.'

"I'm a bit confused, you told me you're not married, you won't go out with me, you don't have a girl, well what then?"

"I got Jack," there he said it, he never thought the words would ever leave his lips.

"Jack? Is he your boyfriend?" Ennis was getting very tired of this nosy nurse but once he started he couldn't stop his mouth from blurting out the truth, maybe it was the drugs they had him on that left him less inhibited, but here he was about to throw it on the table.

"No he's my husband."

Valerie stood there for a moment, stunned then laughed. "Your husband? Is this some kind of joke, you can't be married it's not legal." She was smiling at him. 'Oh this poor confused man' she thought, 'he needs help.'

"I gotta go tend to the other patients, I'll be back later." She got him settled into bed and left.

Ennis now regretted telling her anything. 'Great goin Ennis since when did you develop such a big mouth. Maybe Jack's rubbin off on ya."

TBC