Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

They rode in silence for a while, both of them waiting for the other to speak first. Allie was the first to overcome her nerves and break the silence.

"Jack…" she said and then she chickened out and bit her lip. What was wrong with her? She had never had a problem with saying what she wanted to say before.

"What is it, Allie?" Jack asked.

"I missed you." she said quietly as she picked at Buttercups mane. Jack looked over at her and she could feel his blue eyes on her as she stared down at Buttercups light blond hair.

"I missed you too." he said. "More than you'll ever know." Then he stuck his hand up as if he expected her to lose her temper. "Now before you yell at me and tell me there is no way I missed you because I never tried to write to you or come back to you, you need to know…" Allie shook her head and looked over at him with a sad smile.

"I know, Jack."

"You know what?" Jack asked with confusion.

"I heard you talking to Hawke the other night." Allie admitted as she looked back down at her hands and started chewing on her lip.

"Oh." Jack said as he shifted uncomfortably in his saddle. "You heard all of that huh?" Allie nodded.

"Yes." Jack clenched his jaw and wished that a giant hole would open up in the forest floor and swallow him. Knowing that Allie had heard him baring his soul to Hawke made him want to disappear.

"I uh… I didn't know you were listening." he said rubbing the back of his soot covered neck.

"I'm glad I was." Allie replied. Jack pulled out a rolled cigarette and lit it. Allie curled her nose but said nothing.

"I'm sorry, Allie. I'm sorry for hurting you and leaving you. I've done a heck of a lot of stupid things in my life but hurting you was definitely the stupidest."

"Yes it was." Allie agreed with a teasing smile. Jack was about to reply when he heard a rustling sound coming from some bushes on Allie's side of the trail. Janna started growling low in her throat and jumped between Allie and the bushes.

"Jack." Allie said with fear. She knew it had to be a mountain lion. Janna hated mountain lions after being attacked as a pup.

"I'm right here, doll. Ain't nothing gonna hurt ya." Jack promised. He pulled his revolver just as the bushes exploded and a mass of teeth and claws came flying out. Janna snarled and leapt forward and Jack cursed because it kept him from taking a shot.

"Run, Allie!" he yelled. Allie didn't have a choice but to run as Buttercup spooked and took off into the woods. Jack prayed that Allie would be able to hang on to the galloping mare and he turned his attention back to the mountain lion and Janna.

"Get outta the way!" He yelled at Janna who was wrestling around the forest floor with the cat. The only reason the fool headed wolf wasn't dead yet was because the cat was a small one and did not look very healthy. He holstered his useless gun. He couldn't fire a shot while Janna was in the way and he yanked on the reins of his horse trying to keep her from spooking.

Janna let out a whimper and he knew she was losing. He couldn't let the worthless critter die because that would break Allie's heart. He pulled his knife, cursed under his breath and jumped from his horse and onto the pile of white and brown fur wrestling on the ground.

The fight was over in seconds as Jack and Janna rose from the ground and looked down at the dead cat. Jack wiped his bloody knife on his pants and looked around only to realize that his horse was gone. He turned his attention down to Janna who was panting but other than a few bloody scratches on her legs, chest and face she was unharmed. Jack looked down at his own thigh which was a bloody mess where the mountain lion had managed to sink its teeth into him.

"Janna." Jack said, doing his best stern Hawke impression. Janna looked up at him. "Find Allie." he said. Janna stared up at him for several more seconds and he wondered if she was smart enough to understand a simple command and then she slowly loped off into the woods.

Jack put his knife away and lifted the cat over his shoulder. He cursed the burning pain in his leg and prayed it wouldn't get infected and then he started into the woods in the same direction Janna had taken.

He'd been walking a long while when he heard a horse approaching him from the front.

"Oh my God, Jack! Your leg!" Allie exclaimed as she jumped down from Buttercup and ran to him. Jack tossed the mountain lion down to the ground and pulled Allie away from where she was trying to examine his legs and pressed her tight into his chest as he wrapped her in a hug. He buried his nose in her hair and breathed in the scent of lavender mixed with dirt and gunpowder. The scent was familiar and comforting and all Allie and he was happy to smell that it hadn't changed in the years he'd been gone.

"My leg'll be fine, Allie doll." he promised. Allie pulled away and looked down at it again.

"You need stitches." she said. "Lily is pretty good at doing stitches. She has had to stitch Wolf and Janna up a couple of times."

"Have you seen my horse?" Jack asked and Allie shook her head.

"It took a while for me to get Buttercup to stop running. I wasn't really looking out for your horse." Jack nodded. He picked the mountain lion back up and threw it over Buttercup, in front of the saddle. He hoisted himself into the saddle, doing his best to show no pain even as sweat popped out on his forehead and his thigh screamed in protest at the effort required to lift his body up.

"Come on, doll." Jack said as he reached his hand down for Allie's. Allie placed her hand in his and he pulled her up behind him in the saddle. He felt her chest press up against his back and his body responded in a purely male way. He shifted in the saddle and hoped she wouldn't notice.

"What happened?" Allie asked as she wrapped her arms tight around him and she felt his heat warm her own body. She could feel his lean muscles through his thin shirt and she could feel those muscles working beneath her arms as he flicked the reins and started Buttercup toward home.

"Your damn wolf was in the way and I couldn't shoot the cat so I had to pull my knife and jump on top of him." Jack replied.

"Why would you do something so crazy?" Allie demanded. Jack pointed down at Janna who was walking beside them.

"I couldn't very well let that poor, stupid beast die. I know how much she means to you." Allie bit her lip, unsure of whether or not she should say the words that were on the tip of her tongue. She decided to go ahead.

"You mean more." she said. She felt that tingling low in her belly again as he ran his hand over her arms and then he turned his face a little to glance back at her and she saw that he was frowning.

"Allie, I ain't the same man I use to be."

"I don't care."

"I have a horrible temper." Jack admitted. Allie nodded.

"I noticed."

"I kinda overreact a lot of the time and I don't usually think through what I'm doing." He added.

"I noticed that too." Jack chuckled and shook his head and then his tone became more serious.

"I've killed people." Allie shivered but nodded.

"I know."

"You deserve better than me." he argued.

"There is nothing better than you." Allie replied. "I was angry for a long time. I told myself that I hated you for what you had done to me. But I've grown up a little bit since then and I've realized that yeah you were stupid and yeah you screwed up but I think you've done paid enough for that mistake. Yes you have a temper and you overreact and yes you've done some bad things but you are still Jack and my heart is still yours."

"You sure, doll?" Jack asked. God knew he wanted her to be sure because he wanted nothing more than to have her back in his arms and there was nowhere he wanted to be more than in her heart.

"Just as long as you'll promise to never break my heart again." Allie said laying her head against his shoulder. Jack turned his head enough so he could press a gentle kiss to her forehead and he nodded.

"I promise." he said.

"And promise to never leave me again."

"The only way I'm leaving you again is in a pine box, doll."

"One more thing." Allie said as Jack pulled a cigarette from his pocket.

"Dammit, woman, you sure do have a lot of conditions." he said with a grin that made his blue eyes sparkle and his dimples deepen.

"Am I worth it?" Allie asked and while the words were spoken as a joke, inside she prayed that he would say yes. This whole conversation seemed surreal. She had never dreamed that Jack would come back and she was thankful that she had heard him and Hawke talking the other night. She had been fighting so much anger and rage toward him until she had heard him and realized just how much he had suffered and how much he was still suffering… All of her anger had melted away in that moment.

"Depends." Jack said teasingly. "What else do I have to promise you?"

"No more cigarettes." Allie said grabbing it from his hand and tossing it into the trees.

"Dammit Allie, I need that!" Jack said angrily.

"Please, Jack, it stinks and if you want me to kiss you then you can't have stinky tobacco breath." Jack raised a brow and smiled back at her.

"In that case…." he said and he reached in his pocket and pulled out the rest of his papers and tobacco and threw them into the woods as well. Allie blushed and knew he was about to kiss her but then she noticed the paleness of his face and the sweat that was forming on his upper lip and she looked down at his leg which was dripping blood along the path as they rode.

"Jack, you're gonna bleed to death!" she exclaimed. Jack looked down at his leg and shook his head even as he realized he wasn't going to get that kiss just now.

"Naw. I'm just glad the mountain lion got my bad leg. I'd look awful funny if he'd gotten the other one and I limped with both legs."

888

"What happened?" Lily demanded as Jack jumped down to the ground and his face tensed with pain as the impact sent shockwaves through his leg.

"Don't worry, Lily, the other guy got it worse." Jack said lifting the dead mountain lion from the saddle.

"Mommy, look at the big cat!" Sarah said tugging on Lily's skirt. Lily nodded and took a step away from the beast.

"I hate those things." Lily said matter of factly.

"Where's Hawke?" Jack asked

"Hunting." Lily replied. Jack nodded.

"Well I'll take care of this mountain lion."

"I don't think you will." Lily scolded as Allie smiled and led Buttercup to the barn. "You are going to have a seat on the porch and let me patch that leg up." Jack did his best to act irritated as he hung the mountain lion and limped his way to the porch but really it felt good to have somebody worrying about him again after all this time.

Lily got hot water, towels, bandages and a needle and thread ready. She used her scissors to cut away Jack's tattered pants leg and shook her head at the deep wounds from the mountain lions teeth.

"Good thing I finished making you some new pants this morning." she muttered. Allie and Sarah joined them on the porch to watch and suddenly Jack felt like a critter in a cage at one of them circuses he'd read about.

"So what happened in town?" Lily asked calmly as she started scrubbing the wound clean and Jack's fingernails dug into the wooden rocking chair as he bit down on his tongue so hard he tasted blood. He let out a small grunt of pain as sweat popped out on his forehead and then all pain was forgotten when Allie pressed a gentle kiss to his temple and squeezed his hand. Sarah grabbed his other hand.

"Just squeeze when it hurts." she said in a very serious tone. "Mommy always tells me to squeeze daddy's hand when I have a boo boo and it makes me feel better." Jack managed a small smile, though it probably looked more like a grimace as Lily began to stick the needle through his skin.

"Thanks Sarah. It's helping already." he gritted out through his pain. Sarah smiled proudly.

"What happened to your hand?" she asked as she touched her finger to his bloody knuckle that he had busted open on one of Gavin's teeth.

"Uh… the mountain lion." he lied.

"I think you need to tell me what happened in town." Lily said to both Jack and her sister.

"Do we really need to have a conversation now? I'm in pain." Jack stated with irritation.

"Judging by the scars on your leg this isn't the first time you've had it stitched up." Lily replied. "Now get to talking."