The Dance

by Pam Marks

For a moment all the world was right. How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye?

Disclaimer: All the characters in this story are not mine. I am just messing with them for a while.

Authors Note:Ok this idea hit me from out of nowhere. I was listening to a song and bam there it was demanding to be written so I wrote it. This is a one shot deal. There will be no multiple chapters on this one. I didn't run it though my beta either so there are some grammar and spelling mistakes in it I a sure you but since this isn't a series then I didn't want to bug my beta with it.

Note: The song I used in this story is "The Dance" by Garth Brooks.

The Dance

Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared 'neath the stars above
For a moment all the world was right
How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye

"Oh come on Ennis. You pulling my tail right?" Jack Twist asked as he looked at Ennis with amused eyes. Ennis shrugged as a slow song began to play over the small transistor radio Jack had bought claiming it got to quiet in the woods.

"No I ain't kidding you. I don't know how to dance. Ain't to light on my feet. I tried to dance with Alma at our wedding and stepped on her feet so much that she finally stopped draggin' me up on the floor." Ennis tossed another log into the fire before he sat back down in the cheep lawn chair. He picked his beer back up and took a long swig of it before he noticed Jack looking at him intently.

"What?" Ennis asked innocently before Jack smiled at him.

"Well, friend, you got the best dance instructor in Taxes right here." Ennis didn't have any time to argue as Jack pulled him up from his chair.

"Rodeo I don't think..." Ennis started but was cut off when Jack pulled him close and wrapped his arms around his waist sending a jolt though him.

"Dancing is just a conversation between two people Ennis. Talk to me." Jack whispered the firelight illuminating his face in a heavenly glow. Swallowing and beginning to sink into Jack's blazing blue eyes Ennis felt his feet began to move slowly in time to the music.

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end
The way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance

Ennis shut his eyes when Jack leaned in and laid his head on his shoulder as they moved together as one. Inhaling a shaky breath Ennis felt his heart beat speed up as Jack pressed his forehead into his neck. Drawing Jack closer into his arms Ennis shut his eyes savoring the moment and letting the love he felt for Jack lose of its tight restraints.

As the warmth spread through out his being the world fell away and even the constant flow of the river seemed to stop. There were no wives waiting from them to get home. No children to feed and cloth. No separation. No distance. No hate. No fear. No one else existed to Ennis but Jack Twist.

Resting his head on top of Jack's he increased his hold around the slender figure. He was holding his world in his arms right then and for the first time was at peace with everything in his life. "I love you." Ennis managed to get past his dry lips his voice coming out as no more then a choked whisper into Jack's wild brown hair.

Holding you I held everything
For a moment wasn't I the king
But if I'd only known how the king would fall
Hey who's to say you know I might have chanced it all

"What did you say?" Jack whispered into Ennis's neck his voice no more then a soft breeze on Ennis's neck. Ennis swallowed but was to choked up to repeat it so he instead pulled Jack deeper into his arms wishing he could somehow pull him inside his body so he could carry him around with him every day.

"The song is over cowboy." Came the whisper that made Ennis slowly open his eyes as the world came crashing back in around him as Jack sat up from his neck slowly. Letting Jack go Ennis smiled warmly as he felt himself fall even deeper into Jack's blazing with emotion eyes he reached his hand out and began to lightly trace Jack's flushed cheek with the tips of his fingers.

"Little darlin'." Ennis whispered and before the world could come back to him fully he leaned in and captured Jack's mouth. Moving his hand to cup the back of his neck to keep him close his tongue sought entry into Jack's mouth, which he was granted instantly.

When they slowly broke a part Jack began to pull him for the tent to continue their conversation a twinkle that Ennis knew all to well in his eyes. As he ducked down to follow Jack into the tent something made him look up towards the clear night sky. A small smile spread across his face when he noticed that the stars were particularly bright that night. Looking back down Ennis settled himself before he entered the lantern lit tent closing the flap behind him.

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance

Ennis sighed as he pulled the brown rubber band off from around his rolled up wad of mail. Starting to cross the battered street heading for his beat up old truck he began to thumb through the various pieces. When he came to a white a post card that had been under the power and water bills he stopped in the middle of the street as he recognized it as the one he had sent Jack about a month prior. A bad feeling settled in pit of his stomach as something inside him was telling him not to turn the small plain piece of paper over.

Wetting his lips Ennis took a calming breath before he defied the voice. Deceased was the word that was stamped on the card over his written words to Jack that shattered his world into a million pieces. All he could feel was numb and all he could think of was how it had to be a mistake. His Jack couldn't be dead. His Jack would never die. His Jack was too stubborn and strong to die. Dropping all the mail to the pavement except for the plain post card he dashed across the street and straight into a phone booth not caring for once who saw. Picking up the receiver Ennis deposited the required amount into the thin sliver slot before his shaky fingers dialed the number he had memorized but had never called. Waiting through the rings impatiently Ennis promised anyone that was in the sky listening that if Jack answered and told him it was some sort of mistake he would find some way to get to Taxes that night.

Hanging up the phone Ennis laid his head back on the cool glass of the phone booth. Taking a few shaky breaths Ennis felt himself go numb inside. Jack Twist was dead. Killed by Ennis's greatest fear. Jack's wife had tried to convince him it was just some freak accident but Ennis knew better. He knew how the world worked. Leaning more against the glass of the phone booth he slid down it to the cold steel floor off it his hat falling off sometime between.

As the tears began to sting at Ennis's eyes demanding to be released he inhaled deeply trying to get control over himself enough to move from the phone booth and to his old truck. Finding that control was not going to come to him for a while he shut his eyes and let the tears fall as his insides twisted in knots that would never come out. Jack Twist was dead. Ennis felt a shudder run through him as a cold feeling shot up his spine before the god-awful pain began at the thought of never seeing Jack again. Hunching over and clenching his stomach Ennis let out a strangled sob as the need to vomit consumed him. "Damn it! Damn it!" Ennis shouted as he kicked the hard glass of the phone booth before he simply gave into the strangled sobs and pained gasps of air.

Shutting his eyes his mind began to lose touch with reality and wondered back over all the times he and Jack had spent together on Brokeback. Ennis shuttered when his disorientated mind latched onto the night when he had held Jack so very close to him. The night when they had danced and the world, for only a moment seized to exist. Ennis inhaled sharply as the feel of holding Jack in his arms came back to him, as he could smell the shampoo as well as the cigarette smoke in Jack's hair once more.

"I love you rodeo." Ennis whispered before he slowly opened his eyes to see he was still crutched over in the dirty phone booth, clutching his stomach and Jack was still dead. Straightening up and holding the memory Ennis slowly stood from the floor and exited the phone booth. Getting back to his old truck Ennis slid in the drivers seat and calmly drove back to his small run down trailer. The memory of the dance they had shared holding him steady as he drove.

Yes my life is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain but I'd of had to miss the dance