To avoid someone in a small town is a near impossible task, but somehow Cliff had managed to evade Jack for three days. For the most part he stayed in his room at the Inn, locking the door and gazing somberly out the window. He of course would have to leave the place to eat and other necessities, but he made sure those trips were brief. He had asked Doug, the manager of the Inn, to tell anyone who came looking for him that he was out. Doug, being the kindly fellow that he was, just nodded and never asked why Cliff was making such a strange request.

Jack wasn't the only thing bothering Cliff, however. There was also the fact that he was very quickly running out of money. While he didn't live an expensive life by any means, the Inn room wasn't cheap and he only made a little bit here and there from selling herbs and mushrooms he found in the forest. With winter approaching even that tiny income was no longer going to be available to him. His attempts to find a job in town had proved fruitless; all the shops were family run and didn't need any extra help. Despite the part of him that didn't want to leave, it looked like he was going to have to move on soon regardless.

Sighing deeply and leaning against the window sill Cliff observed the town below. From his window he could see the grocery store and two locals sitting on a bench beside it. They were both about his age; one a boy with glasses and an apron and the other an admittedly attractive blonde girl. It took him a few minutes to remember their names as being Rick and Karen. They hadn't spoken very much over the course of his being here, but he had observed them from his window the past couple of mornings. They always had the same routine of meeting up by the grocery store shortly past dawn and chatting for an hour or so before heading off again. Even though they never did much more than talk, it was quite clear that there was more than friendship brewing between the two. Little gestures and gazes held perhaps a few seconds too long hinted that the two were probably harboring crushes for each other.

Cliff chuckled, wondering if each was hiding their feelings for the other because they were afraid of rejection. Yet it was clear to any outsider that both wanted more. Cliff was only able to dwell on this for a moment before his thoughts again turned to Jack, and that horrible feeling of a few days prior returned. At least Rick and Karen would someday be free to express their love openly. He could never have that with Jack.

"Damn it!" Cliff growled, putting his head in his hands.

Why did he keep thinking things like that? It was so silly and dramatic. Men weren't supposed to mope around having pity parties like this. He may not be able to escape this bizarre infatuation with another man, but he could at least stop acting like some angst-filled teenager!

Bringing his head up from his palms Cliff felt a surge of confidence run through his body. He started telling himself that he was going to stop whimpering in this room and get back on the road again! There was no use worrying about things he couldn't change, right? Maybe this whole liking another man thing was some sort of chemical imbalance that he could cure with a nice juicy steak. Yeah! He hadn't had a good steak in months. All of a sudden Cliff felt better than he had in ages, and he was ready to take on the world again.

Until, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jack approach Rick and Karen.

All of the bravado he'd just been experiencing melted away until all that was left was the nervous and sad Cliff of before. While part of him wanted to run off, a much stronger part kept him glued to his place. To even see Jack again somehow felt good.

Life isreally funny sometimes. One day you're a city boy, the next you're a farmer, and then one day you're locking lips with a guy you barely know amongst a field of eggplants. Even that however, isn't the strangest thing. No, that would be the fact that you liked it. You really, really liked it.

Jack had been searching for Cliff for three days. He didn't understand exactly why he needed to find him so urgently. The farmer still hadn't quite taken in the whole event, but his brain was telling him finding Cliff was the important thing now. There would be time to stew over the feelings the kiss had stirred up later. He hadn't gotten to search quite as much as he would have liked to thanks to chores around the farm, and now he feared that maybe the worst had happened and the other man had actually left town. When he spotted Rick and Karen at their usual morning hangout he decided he might as well ask them if they'd seen Cliff. He expected more or less the same answer he'd gotten from everyone else in town he'd been bothering since he started his search.

"Hey guys," Jack greeted the pair as he stopped in front of their bench. "I don't suppose either of you have seen Cliff around lately, have you?"

Jack was almost ready to turn on his heels and head in another direction even before he got an answer. That's why he almost tripped when he got a rather unexpected response from Karen.

"Um, isn't that him up in that window?" Karen asked while pointing.

Jack turned to look in the direction Karen was gesturing towards, his eyes wide in disbelief as he made eye contact with the man he'd been searching for. A split-second later Cliff's eyes widened and he stepped away from the window, mouth open in an obviously fearful gasp. Jack was overcome with a combination of both joy and fear. Indeed, he'd found Cliff--but now what?

"Damn it, Doug was lying to me!" Jack said, rushing off in the direction of the Inn without saying another word to Karen or Rick.

"Wow. That was kind of odd, huh?" Rick scratched his head confusedly.

"This whole town's kind of odd." Karen shrugged.

Cliff knew there was no way he would be able to escape the Inn quickly enough to avoid running into Jack. The time it took him to leave his room and descend the stairs would be the same amount of time it would take Jack to reach the front door. So instead the wanderer sat down on his bed and gripped nervously at the sheets, waiting for the inevitable.

What would Jack say to him? Would he beat him up? Would he tell him to stay away?

No, the last one wouldn't make sense. He'd done nothing but stay away from the other man. He'd gone out of his way to avoid him!

The sound of heavy work boots walking across the floor outside of his room jolted Cliff from his fretting. This was it; this was what he'd been running from for days. He closed his eyes tightly and braced himself to either be yelled at or pummeled. Either would be fine. He deserved punishment for what he'd done. As the door slowly creaked open Cliff internally scolded himself for being stupid and not locking it. Even though he couldn't see Jack, he knew when the man had entered the room by the sound of the door quietly closing behind him. The farmer didn't speak immediately however; there were several moments of tense silence, until…

"Cliff? Why have you been hiding from me?"

The tone of voice was not what Cliff had been expecting. It was not angry or disgusted. It was concerned and almost gentle. Gradually, he opened his eyes. Jack was standing by the door, a look of worry on his face. Despite all this, Cliff couldn't bring himself to answer. He looked away, out the window at the sunny autumn day outside.

Jack tried again, "Look… you don't need to be ashamed of what happened, OK?"

The beauty of the world outdoors contrasted with how horrible Cliff felt inside. He felt almost as if he didn't have the right to gaze upon the perfection of nature. Jack was just being nice because he was a good guy. He couldn't possibly be 'OK' with what had occurred. Even if he wasn't mad about it, there's no way he could possibly accept the truth. Cliff sighed deeply.

"I really am sorry, Jack."

Jack balked a little at the coldness in Cliff's voice. You would think the guy had murdered someone rather than just given them a kiss. Cliff was obviously more of a sensitive soul than he had realized. Summoning some courage, Jack slowly walked over to stand in front of Cliff.

"Why?" Jack asked.

Cliff glanced at him with a muddled expression, "Why what?"

"Why are you sorry?"

The question stopped Cliff's little bout of feeling sorry for himself rather abruptly. What the hell did Jack mean?

"Sorry for… you know…" Cliff could hardly even say the word, "… the kiss."

Jack laughed. Of all the things that Cliff had expected Jack to do in that exact moment; laugh was the furthest from his mind. It wasn't a cruel laugh either. It was a joyful relieved sort of laugh that almost made Cliff want to start laughing too. The overwhelming bewilderment wouldn't allow that, however.

"Cliff, you don't have to apologize about that," Jack said. "If it was a bad kiss then maybe, but…"

Cliff blushed, "You… thought it was good?"

"Well, I'm no expert, but it was certainly the best kiss I've ever had."

The warmth Cliff felt inside now was overpowering. Jack had liked his kiss? He'd enjoyed it?

"Look," Jack continued, "I don't know why it felt good. I don't really think I'm supposed to know. All I know is, nothing could possibly be bad about something that makes two people happy. Right?"

Oh, why did Jack have to ask him a question right now? Cliff wasn't exactly capable of coherent speech at this present time. So he just nodded stupidly and kept staring at Jack in wide-eyed disbelief.

"Cool, so we agree!" Jack beamed, leaning forward to bring his face closer to Cliff's. "Since I've been running myself ragged looking for you for three days, I think I deserve something in return."

Cliff's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't possibly mean what he thought he meant, could he? The gentle pressing of Jack's lips against his own answered that question rather quickly. It was just as sweet as it had been in the field days before. This time however, Cliff knew he wasn't going anywhere.

There weren't words to express how wonderful that felt.