By Heidi

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Pairing: Jim/OMC (Greg)

Notes: This is part of a bigger story line but you don't necessarily need to know the whole story. If you want to know more check my webpage. The basics are that Blair has left and Jim is involved with an FBI agent.

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Jim rolled over, wrapping his arm around the man lying next to him and sighed contentedly. If you'd have asked him a year ago, he would have never said he could be this content. He would have never thought he could let go of the hurt Blair's departure had filled him with. But he had and it was all due to the man lying next to him.

It had been a year ago when Greg came to find him at that camp ground near the river in Mazama. He'd been angry back then and not very good company. But Greg didn't care. They hiked, they talked, and they hiked some more. Greg had picked all the strenuous hikes to wear his anger out. He'd found it had been hard to wear out the FBI agent. On the last day Greg found a little used trail off of the one they were 'supposed' to be hiking. He later learned that it was Greg's fondness of Robert Frost that made them take that trail. Taking that trail had been a changing point for him, as they walked through those trees in silence save for the soft thud of their footfall, he was able to think about the things he and Greg had talked about. By the time they reached the end, he was finally able to 'hear' what Greg had been saying to him.

The night before they had gone across the North Cascade Pass to the same camp ground and even managed to get the same site Jim had stayed at the year before. They made love as the sun came up, colouring the sky, then hit the trail. It was a just as he remembered it from the year before, it was covered in old pine needles with towering trees and bright green undergrowth, mostly ferns. They had hiked back to the waterfall they had found and sat and talked. He wasn't a big talker about his feelings but this being an anniversary of sorts. They talked about the past year. Their relationship. And how far they had come since the last time they had sat on those rocks. Jim's hearing allowed them make love again next to the falls without being discovered by other hikers.

They didn't spend a second night at the camp ground. Instead they went into Winthrop for dinner and then headed back over the pass. It was a full moon and just as they reached the point where they would dip over to the west side of the mountains they stopped at a wide pull over and turned the headlights off. The moon was so bright it cast shadows as they walked around looking at the peaks illuminated by the moon.

They arrived home in the wee hours and went straight to bed too tired to make love again. Instead they cuddled together and drifted off to sleep, or rather Greg did. Jim lay with Greg in his arms thinking about the changes in his life in the last year and glad for the man next to him. Greg had helped him get through a lot of things and put his feelings for Blair, good and bad, in their place.

Fin

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