Disclaimer: I don't own Brokeback Mountain

a kind of mushy chapter that I just had in the back of my head for a while now. No sex, but there is kissing.

Time passed quickly for the three. Together they tore down the falling apart front porch and started work on a new one. Alma quickly got used to working a lot. The friend who had sold them the horses had a foal whose mother had died giving birth to her. He had several horses and didn't have the time to take care of the foal, so he sold her to them and she became Alma's horse. She was a chestnut mare that Alma named Savannah. She woke up every morning, fed the foal, ate breakfast, helped build the porch, took care of the foal, and cleaned out the stables. Jack and Ennis spent most of their time either building the porch or building fences to make corrals for the horses. Alma had taken over most of the cooking for all of them. It was close to Thanksgiving time that their first major scare happened.

The three were riding out on the ranch to check the fences when Jack's horse got spooked by a snake. Midnight bucked and threw Jack from his back and both Ennis and Alma watched in terror as Jack flew through the air. Jack tried to turn so that he could land on his feet but only managed to get one foot underneath him. He landed on his left foot and they all heard a sickening crack as blood appeared on his left pant leg and the rest of him fell on his left side. Alma was riding on Star with her father and she quickly got down and got Midnight under control. Ennis also got off and shot the snake. Star and Midnight were both startled but Alma managed to keep them both under control. Ennis quickly went to Jack's side and touched him gently.

"Jack? Tell me what's wrong."

"My leg..." Jack managed to gasp out. Ennis lifted his pants leg and saw the white bone sticking out of the skin.

"Alma, ride back to the house and get the truck," said Ennis tossing Alma the keys. "Bring it out here. Then we'll take Jack to the hospital." Alma nodded as she caught the keys. She quickly mounted Star, took Midnight's reins in her hands as well, and rode the two of them back to the barn as fast as she could.

"Am I that bad?" asked Jack.

"The bone's sticking out of the skin," said Ennis as he rolled up Jack's pant leg. Jack groaned and laid back on the ground. "I'm going to have to bind it as best I can so you don't bleed to death on the way to the hospital." Ennis pulled off his coat and his button-up shirt and began to rip the shirt into strips. Ennis tried to gently straighten out Jack's leg but Jack yelped in pain. "Stay still. You have to stay still."

"You try doing this!" Jack's hands were in tight fists and tears of pain stremed from his eyes. Ennis gently took Jack's hand in his and squeezed it tightly.

"Listen to me Jack, don't think about anything else but listening to me. Go to a memory in your mind. Just go to our second night up on Brokeback. I was sitting by the fire and you were in the tent. And I wanted to be with you again. I got up and walked into the tent." He touched Jack's leg again and when he didn't get as strong a reaction he slowly began to bandage it.

"I was so worried that we weren't going to be friends anymore," said Jack in a whisper. "I was so scared that I had lost you. That was when you..." He paused to wince for a moment as Ennis pushed the bone back in and wrapped the bandage around the main part of the wound. Then he continued talking. "When you walked into the tent. You looked so scared."

"I was scared. I was terrified."

"I knew that I just had to make you realize that I wanted you too. I took your hat away from you. I touched your face and you looked like you were going to flinch away but you didn't. You fought against yourself and I could see the whole battle written on your face. It broke my heart. I wanted you to know that everything would be all right." Ennis remembered what happened next and saw Jack grinding his teeth. He had to keep Jack calm.

"And then you kissed me."

"I kissed you. And that was when I knew." Ennis was almost done tying on the bandage and looked up at Jack's closed eyes and almost serene face except for the light lines of pain.

"Knew what?"

"That I loved you." Ennis looked up at Jack as he put in the last knot. "I love you, Ennis."

"I know," said Ennis gently. He gently touched Jack's forehead and Jack opened his eyes. "I love you, Jack." Jack felt tears in his eyes but not from pain. Ennis gently leaned down and kissed Jack on the lips before helping Jack up to his feet. Alma soon came barrelling across the grass in the truck with a look of white terror on her face.

"It's all right dumplin'," said Jack as he climbed into the car and calling Alma by his favorite pet name for her. "I'm still alive." Alma moved to the middle and let her father get in behind the steering wheel. Jack winced and cursed as they hit bumps in the road and Alma tried to keep him as steady as possible. Once they got on the road though, everything was a little easier. They quickly drove him to the hospital and the docs took him in quickly. Jack had to get stitches and a cast put on. It wasn't until hours later that Jack was limping out of the hospital on crutches. Ennis and Alma took him home and immeadiately put him in one of the easy chairs that had a fold-out foot rest. Ennis sat with Jack while Alma made dinner for them.

"You scared me Jack," said Ennis quietly. Jack looked up at him through a haze of pain killers.

"I didn't mean to you know."

"I know. But I was scared..." Ennis reached out and took Jack's hand in his. "And I meant what I said."

"I meant what I said, too." Jack squeezed Ennis's hand reassuringly and the two stared into the fire until Alma told them that dinner was ready. Alma had put the spaghetti and meat sauce on plates and onto trays that they were able to easily balance on their knees. Alma sat between them on the floor and stared into the fire with them. All three remained silent as they ate slowly. At some point Jack fell asleep and Alma gently took the plate off of his lap. Ennis thought it best to just leave Jack where he was. So they pulled a thick quilt over him and put another log on the fire. Alma went up the stairs and went to bed. Ennis wasn't sure if he was going to be able to leave Jack alone in the living room. So he settled down in the other easy chair and was soon asleep.

In the end, it was a lucky thing that Ennis had stayed with Jack in the living room. Jack had a nightmare in the middle of the night. He felt himself falling and Ennis wasn't able to reach him. His leg hurt so badly. When he woke up, his leg was hurting again and he was moaning loudly. He heard the clink of a glass and a medicine bottle being shook.

"Here ya go buddy," said Ennis who was handing him two pills, a glass of water, and was holding a peanut butter sandwhich in his hand. He swallowed down the pills.

"What's the sandwich for?"

"It's best you take those with some food." Jack nodded and ate the sandwich without another word. "I guess it's a good thing I decided to sleep in here with ya."

"Yeah... it's more comfortable than the bed with this cast and all." Ennis nodded and took the empty glass from Jack once he was done with it. "I'm sorry..." said Jack so faintly that Ennis almost didn't hear him.

"What?"

"I said, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"That I won't be able to help with the ranch for another month or so."

"It's all right. Alma and I can make it. The fences are done. There's still work to be done on the porch, but that doesn't have to be finished right now. It can wait or go slow. Whichever works best."

"I just don't want to feel like I'm being a burden on you and Alma."

"We'll be fine Jack. A few weeks and you'll be right as rain. Besides, it's not near time for anything else we need to do. What are you so worried for? It's just a broken leg. You'll be good as new in no time."

"I don't know. This is just all so new and fragile right now. I don't want anything to mess it up. I don't want to mess this up."

"You won't, I promise. We'll be fine." Ennis gently kissed Jack on the forehead. "Now go back to sleep. All you need to worry about right now is getting better. After that, we'll figure it out." Ennis settled back down in his chair and pulled the blankets back up over himself. Jack was all ready drifting off to sleep and he hoped that he was going to sleep through the night. Ennis stared into the fire and began to slowly convince himself that everything would be all right. If all three of them stuck together, they would be all right.