Thanks to: Pip3, YouthAwareness, JohnKB, w84u, Marina Bayae, kipperoo453, Valandil Eluch, onefreetoroam, dreamcatcher33, and Jamist649 for all the reviews. I can't believe how many I got for the last chapter! Hope you enjoy this one, and I really loved the reviews from you all. Thanks again!
Kaitlin

Title: A Barrel of Nerves
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters and/or places belong to Annie Proulx. No profit is being made.

After Jack's bleeding had subsided, they told him he could go home and take it easy. He would have liked to have stayed with Ennis, but the girls begged him to come home. They said they were tired of Monroe and the babies, but he knew they just wanted something as close to their father as possible. And right now, that was Jack. So he drove them to the old house, a sad silence permeating the air.

"Did'ya see Daddy 'afore yeh left?" Junior bravely broke the silence, a look of hesitation about her.

"I wish I had. I saw 'im about two days ago."

"Why? How was he?"

Jack gripped the steering wheel, tried to watch the scenery ahead of him through cloudy tears. He would have to pull over soon, lest he kill them all.

"He was doin' better. Talked ta me a bit, actually. But he was real tired."

"That's good. But why didn' yeh go see 'im 'afore yeh lef'?"

"I wish I coulda, but the hospital wouldn' lemme."

"Huh?"

"Well, I'm not related ta yer dad-"

"Yeh might as well be!" Francine small hands (the only thing she did get from her mother) sat on her hips.

"I know. I wish I was. But I ain't. An' there ain't nothing we can do..."

"Why cain't we?"

"Why cain't we what?"

"Do anythin'."

"'Cus we cain't control other folks, Francine. They got a right ta believe what the want."

"I guess..."

Junior said nothing, held her tongue, because even though she was talking to her father and his boyfriend, she felt the same way as those men who had thrown Jack to the floor. She thought what her father did with his was disgusting, un-natural, and wrong. She still had trouble sleeping in the same house, but she did love her father, and picked him over his attempted murderer.

"So..." Jack tapped his fingers on the wheel, out of time and rhythm with the music.

"When is Daddy comin' home?"

"I'm not sure. But in a week, we cain go visit him, he'll be outta the ICU by then."

"How'd yeh know?"

"A nurse had been helpin' me ta see 'im. She tol' me that."

"Awful nice a her."

"Uh huh."

------

Francine didn't often have nightmares. In fact, she couldn't remember her last one until recently. It made it even more embarrassing that she would often wet the bed when she had them. Junior, who was sharing their father's bed with Francine, never said a word. She'd tug the sheets off and wash them before Jack woke on the couch. And if he ever asked, all she had to say was "girl problems" and he was gone from the room.

Francine still couldn't stand that she had the nightmares, but she couldn't get away from them. Often, she just relived what happened in the grocery store, but sometimes, it would be worse. Her father would die in Jack's arm, fade away before her eyes. She wasn't ready to lose her dad. She would wake crying most nights, her older sister would hold her and pet down her hair, never asking what the nightmares were about, she knew, because she had them too.

------

Jack was a barrel of nerves the day before they were going to see Ennis. They most likely wouldn't be bringing him home, but he was still excited to see him after a week of being alone. He bit his nails, tapped the table, shook his leg and drove the girls crazy, until finally Junior told him to go for a walk and wear down his energy. He took the girl's advice and headed outside.