Thanks to: LuvAngel448, Pip3, kipperoo453, and Joetheone for the great reviews! You guys are keeping me glued to the keyboard.

I'm sorry this took so long to have up! I was busy and I had major writer's block. Please forgive me?

Title: You Checkin' Me Out, Cowboy?
Rating: G
Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Jack wasn't bad at giving directions. He was awful. It should have taken 45 minutes to get to his house, but because he kept forgetting to tell Ennis where to turn, it took almost twice that amount of time. Finally they arrived at a large gravel drive, which looked like it was swept of everyday. There were large patches of green grass on either side of it, and about a half a mile down, was a large brick house.

"This is where you been livin' all this time?" Ennis was embarrassed. Jack had seen all but one of Ennis' rundown "homes", and all the while he had been living in this...mansion. Two eight year old boys were playing with a ball in the front yard, a woman in a blue uniform was clipping the rose bushes, and there was Lureen (the only person in Jack's family that Ennis had met) lying in a lawn chair, flipping through a magazine.

"Yeah, I been here. Why?"

"It's so...fancy." Ennis knew Jack had fallen into some money when he married Lureen. Jack's trucks had gotten nicer, his clothes better, his tack more expensive. But Ennis had no clue it was this much money.

"Yeah." Jack sighed, in what almost sounded angry.

"Well, let's go. You want me to put ya in the wheelchair?"

"Gee, no Ennis, will ya carry me? Of course I do! I don' want my son seein' you carryin' me aroun'."

Ennis' face fell. Those pain killers Jack was on sure made him moody, and this was not the first time he had sent an arrow through Ennis' heart.

"Mmk," he mumbled as he got out of the dusty truck, walked around the side and pulled out the folded wheelchair from the back. "Will ya at least lemme help ya out?"

"I guess." Jack winced as Ennis grabbed him a little tightly, some of his pain from Jack's curtness reflected in his harsh grip. Lureen looked up at the commotion and frowned at Jack. Why is he here? Then she remembered, he had lived there, he did have belongings to retrieve. Still, she scowled as Ennis pushed him over, Jack talking animatedly to the man behind him. Ennis chuckled a couple times, finally patting Jack's shoulder.

"Hello." She said the word as though someone had put a hanger down her shirt.

"Hi, Lureen. I'm jus' here ta get some things and say bye to Bobby. Then I'll be outta yer hair ferever. Won' take but an hour er so."

She nodded at him, and Ennis then sat back down on her chair. But she watched them closely over her book. She had heard what men like Del Mar did to little boys. She knew Jack would never harm his boy, but she didn' know Ennis, and maybe Jack didn't either.

She cringed as she watched Bobby's happy expression plummet, his father a fallen man, in a wheelchair, being pushed by someone. No longer the independent hero Bobby believed in. Jack lowered his gaze too, what was that she saw? It looked like Jack was ashamed of something...

"Daddy...what happened? All Momma said was that you got beat up." Bobby's friend dropped the ball on the ground and stared unabashedly at Jack's ruined face.

"Some boys who didn't like me caught me off guard-" Jack's voice stopped working. It had cracked on the last word as tears rolled down his cheeks. Ennis did him the favor of finishing the horrible sentence, "An' they beat 'im up pretty harsh. He'll get better soon, though."

Bobby stared for a minute, then nodded. He still wondered who this man was, and what he was doing pushing his father around in a wheelchair. Ennis turned Jack away as he was pointed to the door they could use. He would have to carry Jack up the stairs and around the house, as it seemed they weren't getting any help from Lureen.

Jack felt heavier, and Ennis guessed it was the depression that was setting in. His pills were wearing off fast, and Jack wasn't so optimistic anymore. He put his head on Ennis' shoulder and mumbled into the man's neck where his bedroom was. A left, then a right, third door on the right. Ennis kicked the door open like they do in the movies, but what awaited them on the other side was no honeymoon suite.

The single bed was unmade, clothes were strewn on the floor, and an old towel lay across the back of a chair. Jack's hairbrush was on his dresser next to a picture of Bobby, Lureen and him. A picture that looked recent. "Ya look so happy," Ennis whispered after setting Jack on the bed.

"We were. Well, they were. I was always wishin' you were there with me."

Ennis walked over to Jack, who was sitting on the bed, scratching the tops of his casts. He put his hands on either side of the man and looked from his legs to his waist, stomach, chest, shoulders, neck, and finally his face.

"You checkin' me out, cowboy?"

"And if I am?"

He smothered Jack's response with a kiss.