This is an extreme AU and was written in response to a fanfic challenge as follows:

After Jack dies, he is given a chance to be reincarnated into a different form (man, woman, horse?) back on earth. If he can make Ennis fall in love with him again within a set time (maybe the same amount of time it took for them to fall in love the first time-I'll let the author decide) then he will be restored to his former self and stay with Ennis, if not they will remain separated forever. Jack, being the risk taker that he is, welcomes the opportunity to change his fate.

Jack woke up not sure if he was standing or lying down. All around him was white, no sense of depth or distance. He realized quickly that it didn't make much difference since there was no up or down to be found either.

Everything was quiet and peaceful around him. He was filled with a sense of contentment, yet, in the back of his mind there was a disturbance. He knew that something had happened but couldn't grasp the memory. He pondered a bit, muttered to himself, poked around in his head but he couldn't quite make the connection.

Suddenly he saw…

The sun…blinding…a silhouette…an arm raising a tire iron, smashes him in the face again and again…

Jack's body convulses as the memory courses through him…

A brutal kick to the side and ribs break, a contemptuous stomp to the groin, a lead pipe breaking a leg…

He feels again the pain of the beating, tears flowing down his cheeks, his breath coming in great gasps…

He's alone now. He lays there, the pain distant, his sense of his body diminishing. Darkness creeps in from the edges of his vision.

He rests in this white space, the flashes of memory fading along with the pain. He knows why he's here now, what circumstances brought him to this place.

He remembers that he and Ennis had fought and parted in anger…that shortly after he got back to Childress, one evening on a side road, he had been attacked.

He remembers thinking of Ennis before the blackness overwhelmed him, "I ain't never gonna see him again." Tears fill Jack's eyes. "What's he supposed to do now? He aint' gonna know what to do." A sob escapes him. "I didn't get to say goodbye……I never told him I love him."

As Jack thinks of Ennis, suddenly he's there...watching Ennis drinking at the bar, Jack knowing that Ennis was trying his best not to think about the time remaining before he got to see Jack again. Jack could feel Ennis trying to keep his need for him pushed down and away so he could survive each day. It was painful to watch.

Jack could see clearly now the love Ennis had for him but had never been able to release from the bindings and chains of his own beliefs and the beliefs of the world that had shaped him. He saw how hard Ennis had to struggle to keep the flame of love for Jack from being extinguished by these same forces.

Jack hadn't realized how difficult it had been for Ennis...and how very difficult it was going to be. He saw Ennis sinking into despair and desolation. It was too hard for Jack to watch.

A sense of complete futility overwhelmed him as he felt the distance between them and saw there was nothing he was going to be able to do for Ennis now.

"That's not true, Jack."

Jack froze. This quiet statement came from nowhere…and everywhere. He didn't hear it as words but knew that it had been uttered.

"What? I don't understand. I'm here now…and he's there. Don't see a way to reconcile that."

"You're right you know. It's going to get very hard for him."

"I don't want that to happen. He don't need no more pain." Jack paused and said quietly, "He ain't gonna know what to do by himself, all alone like that." A tear coursed down Jack's cheek. "He's hurt so much…"

"Would you like to help him? Would you like another chance?"

"I'd do anything."

"There is only one condition. If you go, you will have to get him to fall in love with you."

"But he already loves me."

"As Jack, yes."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll have to go back as someone else."

"Who?"

"You'll see. You won't be disappointed."

"I'll do anything."

"You'll have to get him to say he loves you…he hasn't done that, right?"

"He…couldn't. He wasn't good with words. I know he loved me…he just couldn't find the words."

"He needs to find them…for his sake. He will need to say to you that he loves you…and if he does…"

"What?"

"We'll send you back to him as you…as Jack. He'll need you then to make sure he doesn't retreat…go back to who he used to be. He needs to take this step so he can be of use to others the way he is supposed to be. Others will come to rely on him later but only if he can open up. Ennis can be an important person to many people."

"Ennis? He won't even talk to me much less anyone else!"

"That's the point, Jack. If you can get him to say the three words that are the most difficult for him to say, how hard would it be to say anything else? And then he can open up and be the man he needs to be."

"Will you help him with this, Jack?"

"Yes, I'll do whatever it takes. Ain't nobody else going to help him."

"Get him to say 'I love you'."

Jack floated for a moment in the not-space he had found himself in thinking of how much he wanted to be with Ennis again, to help him, to tell him how sorry he had been about the argument and how he wanted to make it up to him…to tell him how much he loved him.

He thought of Ennis until the darkness came and consciousness slipped away.

Jack woke knowing now that he was lying down. There was a rock in his side telling him that. He opened his eyes but wasn't able to see very well. Color was washed out…mostly shades of grey. He blinked a few times but nothing changed. He could hear sounds around him…birds chirping, the wind blowing, way off in the distance cars on the highway. He swiveled his ears to catch a sound behind him…

Swiveled my ears…?

As he began to become more aware of his surroundings…and more frightened at the strangeness…he licked his nose…

I LICKED MY NOSE! What the hell is going on here?

He went to jump up but couldn't seem to get his balance and kept falling. Then he looked down at himself.

Oh, my God…what's going on here? I'm covered in fur! Where are my hands?

He tried to yell for help but only got out howls and barks.

I'm going out of my fucking mind…this must be some bad dream!

Then he began to remember the voice telling him he could come back to help Ennis…but not as Jack.

I thought they were going to send me back as some other person…not like this. What am I anyway?

He stopped for a moment to get his bearings…to look around, to look at himself. He found he was panting, so tried to relax.

Get a grip here, Twist. Take stock of your situation.

He looked at himself. Where his hands should be were paws. He could see his nose sticking out in front of him. If he reached for his ears, he could feel they were really big. He'd already noticed that he had fur and a quick glance back showed he had a tail. Another quick glance showed him he was still male with all his equipment.

I'm a dog. A DOG! (Incoherent ranting). How can I help Ennis as a dog? Calm down now. First things first. Can I stand up?

And Jack began to experiment and learn how to walk and see and hear like a dog. He spent a good amount of time learning about himself…luckily he had woke up in the woods away from people and things so he had the time.

He had the hang of walking now, though his tail tended to do what it wanted all by itself. He had heard that dogs could smell better than people, but now he sat in amazement just sniffing the air. The variety and texture and assortment of smells was overwhelming. He found he could hear bugs crawling on trees near him, the mooing of cows in the distance, a truck driving up then stopping, engine turned off…then Ennis cussing as he got out.

Jack was startled back to himself and his immediate surroundings.

Ennis! It's Ennis! I'd recognize that stream of cuss words anywhere. What do I do now? I'm a dog. Can't just walk up and say, "Hey there, Ennis. Don't mind the fur. It's your buddy, Jack." But I gotta do something.

Jack decided just to find Ennis and see what happens next. He could smell him now…still the same smoky, sweaty smell that he liked. Jack figured best to start right away. He realized at the same time that he'd have to eat. Ennis would feed him, he knew he would. He'd just have to get there.

As he took off in Ennis' direction he thought, "Wonder what kind of dog I am?"

Ennis hadn't had a good day at work. Foreman was all over his ass that day. Not that Ennis had done anything wrong…he ran circles around the foreman where work ethic and care for the ranch was concerned. Seems the foreman had problems at home with the missus and decided, rather than solve them, to take it out on those under him.

Ennis just tightened up some more, put his head down, and plowed through his day. Only when he got home did he allow himself a moment of venting as he walked to the mailbox and into the rundown trailer.

He was usually able to keep thoughts of Jack deep down, but when his stress levels rose, he sought out his feelings for Jack to hold close and comfort him…to remind himself that there was something…someone…in the world worth putting up with all of this for.

His thoughts moved to their last meeting where they had argued, hurtful things said to each other. He had almost immediately regretted all the things he had said…but, damn that Jack, he had pushed him into saying all of that. Only Jack could reach deep down inside of him and bring forth these thoughts and feelings that he kept so firmly hidden. Only Jack could make him break down like he did with the pain of his need.

He wondered how Jack was doing. Was he still mad? Would Jack talk to him again? Hell, would he even ever show up again? Was Jack mad enough to break it off like he had said…to quit him? Ennis felt a hole open up inside at the mere thought that Jack wouldn't be around…that he might never see him again.