Disclaimer: (I thought it was about time I put one of these up) Of course all characters belong originally to Annie Proulx, as well as the whole concept and such.

Sorry, kinda short and not too exciting.

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Jack woke first. The darkness sunk into his eyes and his senses had things flooding in all at once. He almost jumped when he felt arms around him. Lureen? No, too big, strong. God…it's Ennis. Jack smiled, everything he hadn't remembered coming back to him in one flash, the drive to Ennis's home, the kiss at the front door, last night. That had been his best sleep in a long time.

He laid in silence replaying the last few months in his head. He had been preparing to die when Ennis had come to his rescue. He cringed as he remembered the abuse he had taken on that day. He had never been able to erase those thoughts from his memory. Then after months of recovering he came to watch his son cry for hours and then left him. He hated to think it but it was all worth it for right now. Jack could feel Ennis's stomach rise and fall against his back. He shivered as Ennis shifted in his sleep and rubbed against his skin. He had missed this so damned much. This was the scene so often appearing midway through his sleep. Never when he was awake.

As comfortable as he was, his stomach churned having skipped lunch and dinner, and he knew the bags were still waiting in a heap at the front door. He slid his fingers out from Ennis's then cautiously sat up, letting the arms gently slide off him. He felt a chill surge through him but let it pass then crawled forward off the bed. He found his pants on the floor and belted them on and loosely threw on his plaid button down. Before leaving, he turned back to Ennis and tugged on the blankets to cover him.

Out in the living room Jack gathered the bags and dropped them all on the couch.

"Big difference that made," he said to himself. He would've tried to unpack his stuff or drag it into the bedroom at least, but again he didn't want to wake Ennis.

So instead he moved across the room to where there was a fridge. Jack knew he couldn't cook for anything, still he shuffled through what was in there. Almost everything had expired. Hell, he should've hoped so, Ennis hadn't been here for months. He moved to the cabinets and had to settle for some stale crackers along with a tall glass of water.

Jack sat in front of the empty fireplace. There was only a couch and one armchair. The room, no the house was small but it was perfect for the time being. Where were they gonna go from this? Everything was working out and Jack had now only to wait for it to go wrong. Then Jack heard a string of curses as well as some stomping from the bedroom.

He got up from his chair but not before Ennis had run out of the bedroom, still buckling his pants. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Jack standing to his right.

"Mornin'," Ennis's cheeks flushed a deep red.

Jack chuckled, he had never seen Ennis blush.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?"

Jack suppressed his laugh, "Nothing cowboy."

Ennis huffed then stomped his way over to the fridge. He pushed through its contents hastily, searching for anything to eat. He made an awful loud noise doing it.

"What woke you up in such a fury?" Jack had an idea of the answer, but he wanted to hear Ennis say it.

"Shut the hell up Twist."

That had confirmed it for Jack, Ennis was afraid he had left, but Ennis wouldn't admit it, and now that his cheeks were burning from embarrassment he sure as hell wasn't going to say anything else on the matter.

Ennis moved to the cabinets and kept making a racket as he searched for good food. "What d'you eat?"

Jack smiled at the change of subject, "Crackers, they were stale."

Ennis nodded, "We need some good food."

Jack agreed.

"I'll go out tomorrow when the sun gits up."

"It is tomorrow," Jack nodded at the clock on the wall, it said 2:39.

"When the sun gets up," Ennis repeated.

A silence settled between them as Jack returned to the armchair and Ennis pushed away some of the bags to make room on the couch.

For a long time they sat staring at the imaginary flames until Jack interrupted the quiet, "Where we going?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Are we staying here? Gettin' a ranch on Brokeback? I still got that ranch up by my parents."

"I ain't got a lot of money."

"I'll get my share of the divorce soon. That'll give us enough for a fair ranch and some stock."

Ennis nodded, "What you wanna do?"

Jack wanted Ennis to make this decision too. "I don't know. You?"

"Don't know."

Jack sighed.

Ennis heard Jack and added, "I think it's best we get out of here. Get out to somewhere new."

Jack smiled and nodded before getting up to wash his glass in the sink.

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About a half hour after he left, Ennis's truck came back, digging into the dirt outside. Jack was grateful to have him walk through the door. He greeted him and tried to take some of the bags from his hands but Ennis swatted him away.

"Jack I got it."

Jack backed away remembering Ennis didn't like to be helped, he didn't like to feel any less of a man. He instead walked and sat backwards in one of the kitchen table's chairs. He sat facing the window, watching the sun continuing to rise outside, its rays striking the field only a short distance away.

Ennis put a new milk carton, a dozen eggs, and a few other things away in the fridge. The rest of the food went into the cabinets. When he was done he heard Jack ask, "Why'd you come?"

"This is my home, I thought it made sense to come back."

"No. When I was…in the field."

Ennis had guessed that was what he meant. He sat down in the other chair, facing Jack's back.

Jack didn't turn around, "You never told me, why you came."

Ennis leaned forward against the table, "You remember what you said bout me gettin' by on a couple fucks a year? It stuck," he paused, unsure how to say his next thought, "It ain't true you know. I missed you like somethin' fierce," Jack turned around in his chair, Ennis continued with his eyes down, "I finally realized it wasn't worth it no more. I drove down to Texas, asked around and found your place." Ennis stopped short they both knew what Ennis saw next.

Jack thought about the bastard boys who had near killed him in the field. He shook as the scene replayed in his mind.

Ennis raised his head not seeing Jack shiver with fear. He stood saying, "If we're getting' out of here I gotta tell my boss. He probably thinks I'm dead anyway, haven't shown up in months. I'll see if he'll still give me my pay."

Ennis walked towards the door pulling his old lambskin jacket on. He knew he couldn't just leave Jack again. That was just what he used to do. "You wanna come?"

Jack looked over in surprise, but not giving Ennis a chance to doubt himself, he nodded and stood up, grabbing his own jacket as well.

They each jumped into Ennis's white pickup and the engine started. Within a half hour they had reached the ranch Ennis used to work on.

"You best stay in the truck," Ennis said carefully to Jack.

Jack nodded understandingly.

He walked up to the trailer and stepped in without knocking, his first mistake.

"Well Jesus, if it ain't Ennis Del Mar, you fucking decide it was about time to come back to work?"

"I'm sorry, I went out of town and got stuck. It was an emergency."

"It wasn't no emergency for more than half a fuckin' year. You missed a lot of damn you work."

"I know that, I-"

"What? You want pay? You ain't gonna get nuttin' out of me til you made up every damned day you missed."

"I'm quittin' boss."

That shut him up for the moment. "So you run away then come back and quit. You're one of a fuckin' kind Del Mar."

Ennis had his doubts to that but kept his mouth shut and just asked, "Is there any way I'm gonna get my pay for the months I did work b'fore I left?"

"What the hell do you think?"

Ennis nodded then stepped out, slamming the door behind him. He vaulted into the truck cussing.

"You didn't get the money then?"

"Bastard's too cheap to give me a damned penny."

He fired up the engine and peeled out of the ranch.

"You didn't get beans did'ya?" Jack ignored Ennis's sullen mood.

"What?"

"I didn't see what you brought back this mornin'. I swear to God Ennis, if I have to eat another can a beans with you…"

Ennis smiled, the last time Jack had said that to him was on Brokeback. It was about two weeks after their first night together. He had made it a priority soon after that to get soup instead.

"No, no beans."

Jack smiled.