Tim rung the bell at the gate aggressively. Officer Tommy Lee Jones, an officer at the prison for 25 years, came out of the guards' shack laughing.

"You in a hurry, Foust?" He laughs.

"I need some air." Tim answers sharply.

"Where's your partner?" Tommy Lee asks as he unlocks the gate for an impatient Tim.

"He's not my partner." Tim growls with clenched teeth as he passes the guard.

Tommy sighs and looks around at the other guard. "Looks like the lovebirds are fighting."

Tim walks slowly across the yard to the fence. Grasping the chain linked fence with both hands, he stares out at the freedom on the other side. Cars driving down the road. People going to or coming from work. Maybe going shopping. But the bottom line was, they had their freedom.

He turns around and sits down on the ground, placing his elbows on his knees and resting his face in his hands. Why did he let himself fall so fast for Adam? He knew Adam was married from the very beginning and knows that Adam dearly loved the *sshole.

He knew that one day, Austin would show up with divorce papers and he was going to have to watch Adam crumble.

Tim quickly wipes his eyes and looks around when he feels something nudge him on the shoulder through the fence. He finds himself looking into the big brown eyes of a German Shepard mix dog.

"Well, hello there." Tim says softly, wiping his nose. "Where'd you come from?"

The dog begins to wags his tail and tries to stick his nose through the fence.

"I don't think you want in here, Buddy." Tim smiles as he tries to reach his fingers through the fence and pet the dog's head. "You're not wearing a collar so I guess that means your a stray too, like me. You hungry? Wait here, I'll see if I can find you something."

Tim gets up and walks up to the large gate leading to the guard shack and rings the buzzer.

"Well, that was quick." Tommy Lee says, coming out of the office.

"No, I was just wondering if you had some scraps." Tim asks, through the gate.

"Didn't you eat?" Tommy laughs.

"Yeah, but it's not for me. It's for this dog." Tim answers pointing to the dog.

"Oh, well, I have a half eaten ham sandwich that I was just going to throw away. I'll get it." He goes back inside the office, then comes out carrying the half eaten sandwich. He passes the sandwich through the fence to Tim.

"Thanks, man." Tim smiles as he walks back to where the dog was waiting.

The dog stood up and begins to wag his tail as Tim approached him.

"Okay, here's the deal." Tim says as he sits back on the ground. "I'm gonna name you Jack, alright. You favor some old man I use to know."

Tim tears off a piece of the sandwich and sticks it through the fence. The dog quickly eats it and waits for more.

"Okay, Jack. I got a problem." Tim says giving the dog another bite. "There's this guy, his name is Adam. I really like him a lot. I might be even falling in love with him and I know he doesn't feel the same. But the problem is, he's married. But that don't stop me from wanting to f*ck him so bad."

The dog turns his head as he listens.

"But if I give in and have sex with him, that would make us no better than my husband and his lover. I want more than just sex from him, Jack. I want him to love me too." Tim sighs. "Am I making any sense?"

The dog turns his head in the other direction.

"Tim? Did you find a new friend?" Chance chuckles as he walks toward the inmate and the dog.

"Yeah, I named him Jack. He's a good listener, just doesn't talk much." Tim smiles.

Chance could tell from Tim's red eyes that he had been crying.

"You alright, Buddy?" Chance says, sitting down beside him.

"Not really." Tim answers with a sigh. "Adam and I had a huge fight."

"Huh, so did Avi and I. Must be our lucky day, Huh?" Chance smirks.

"Are y'all alright now?" Tim asks.

"Yeah, I think so. We sort of confessed our love for each other." Chance smiles.

"That's awesome." Tim says, trying to sound happy for his friends but his depression shown through. He wished that only he and Adam could do the same.

"Tim, you know that you can talk to me. I'll answer whereas Jack won't." Chance smiles. "What was the fight about?"

"Us." Tim answers. "Chance, I'm pretty sure that I'm falling in love with him but he doesn't feel the same way."

"Are you sure?" Chance asks, finding it hard to believe from the way Adam looks at Tim.

"I'm sure. He told me that he cared for me but he loved Austin." Tim says as he sadly pets Jack through the fence.

"I really find that hard to believe Tim." Chance says. "I've seen the way Adam looks at you. And how he gets so jealous of Grassi for flirting with you. I think that shows more than just caring."

"He more or less just wants to have sex with no emotional strings attached." Tim says. "He's offering his body but not his heart. That belongs to Austin."

"You want to know what I think?" Chance asks.

"Sure." Tim replies.

"I think he loves you as much as you love him. But he won't let himself admit it." Chance says. 

"You think?" Tim asks. "Well, what am I suppose to do, Chance? Have an affair with a married man? I'm here because I killed my husband and his lover for the same reason."

"Just don't distant yourself from him. Cause you know as well as I do, it's just a matter of time before his husband shows up with divorce papers. He'll need you more than ever then." Chance answers.

                                              ~~~  Meanwhile back at the cell  ~~~

"Hey, you alright?" Avi asks from the doorway.

"No." Adam answers quietly as he wipes the tears rolling down his cheek.

"Wanna talk about it?" Avi says, not moving from the doorway.

"Tim and I had a huge fight." Adam sobs.

"About?" Avi asks.

"I'm pretty sure that he's fallen in love with me." Adam says as he tugs at the bottom of his shirt.

"And? That's not a good thing?" Avi asks, slowly stepping inside the cell.

"I care about Tim, I really do. But I'm in love with Austin." Adam replies.

"Oh, I see. You're in denial because you're still living a dream." Avi answers flatly.

"I don't want to hear it, Avi." Adam says angrily.

"Probably not, but you're going to hear it anyway." Avi says, sitting down next to Adam. "I believe that you are very much in love with Tim. It's just too obvious. If you weren't you wouldn't get so mad when Grassi flirts with him. Let me tell you something, Adam. There's gonna be a lot of Mitch Grassis coming to this prison. Tim is a gorgeous man. And you're going to be too busy believing in a marriage that more than likely is already done with, that Tim Foust is going to slip right through your fingers."

"You don't ..." Adam starts but is interrupted.

"Don't you dare tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about." Avi says, shaking his head. "I was in the same shoes that you are now. I almost lost Chance because I believed just as you're doing."

"I just can't give up on my marriage, Avi." Adam cries, tears streaming down his face.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie. Maybe I was a little harsh." Avi says, rubbing Adam comfortingly on the back. "We just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Austin wouldn't do that to me. Y'all have it all wrong." Adam says, although sounding like he was trying to convince himself. "But I did hurt Tim. He hates me right now. He was so angry when he left. He doesn't think I care about him."

"Might I suggest that you go find him and try to patch things up?" Avi says as he stands up. "Cause if Grassi is out of the infirmary and if he gets wind that y'all are fighting, he'll swoop in like the vulture he is." 

"Oh, hell no." Adam growls as he quickly wipes his eyes on a paper towel. Passing Avi as he heads out the door.

Avi smirks to himself as he watches Adam almost run down the cell block.

"You can not tell me, Adam Rupp, that you don't love that man." Avi says to himself with a chuckle.

Adam runs up to the gate and begins to rapidly hit the buzzer.

"Hey, hey. Between you and Foust, you guys are going to break my buzzer." Tommy Lee complains coming out of the guard shack.

"Is he out in the yard?" Adam asks.

"Yeah, he was pretty pissed off too. His face was as red as a stop sign." Tommy says as he unlocks the gate. "I'd approach him very cautiously if I were you."

Adam walks out into the yard and immediately sees Tim and Chance sitting on the ground next to the fence petting a stray dog.

"Hi." Adam says with a frail voice.

Tim and Chance quickly stop talking and look over their shoulders. The first thing Tim notices is Adam's red puffy eyes and his swelled face. Tim's heart broke to see him so distraught.

"Hey." Tim answers in a soft voice.

"Uh, I'll see you guys inside." Chance says as he pats Tim on the leg before standing up and walking away.

Adam slowly sits down at a nearby table as awkward silence falls between them.Tim stands up. At first, Adam thought he was going to head back inside to get away from him. But instead, he walks slowly over to the table and sits down across from him.

"Uh, I guess I need to apologize." Tim says after lighting a cigarette.

"For what?" Adam asks.

"I shouldn't have pressured you. I was trying to get you to choose between me and Austin. And that was ... that was just cruel." Tim says, not yet making eye contact with Adam. "I know you love him, Adam. No one can ever change that. God knows, I've been in your shoes."

"Really? So you know what it feels like to be in love with someone that no one else can see the good in?" Adam asks, unknowingly with attitude.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I loved Matt with all my heart. I thought we had the perfect marriage. But everyone from my best friends to even my mom and sister warned me that I would get hurt." Tim says. "I couldn't see what they saw because I was blinded by love. I never saw the flirting smiles or the winks that he would give other guys. When he came home late, I would believe his lies."

"I'm so sorry." Adam says softly.

"When I saw it with my very own eyes, it broke me. It drove me over the edge." Tim says, quickly wiping a stray tear. "I loved him so much. So, yeah. I know how you're feeling. But maybe we notice things that you don't see because you're blinded just like I was."

A silence fell between them as Adam let Tim's words sink in.

"Tim, I want to apologize also. For throwing myself at you the way I've been doing. I shouldn't have done that. I know it's no excuse but I was lonesome." Adam says as he draws imaginary lines on the table.

"You don't need to apologize. I was the one who started it. I kissed you first." Tim says with a slight hint of a smile.

"Tim, I don't want to lose you. You're all I have in here to help keep me from going insane." Adam says, swallowing down the lump that was rising in his throat.

"You're not going to lose me. It's not like I'm going anywhere." Tim smiles as he lays his hands on top of Adam's. "BUT, I think we need to slow things down some. Like, I think maybe you need to move back to your own bunk."

"But, why?" Adam asks in desperation.

"Adam, it's too hard on both us being so close together like that." Tim says in almost a whisper, squeezing Adam's hand gently. "I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but we were going too fast and someone was going to get hurt, emotionally."

"I know." Adam sighs and nods. "You're right."

"I just want you to know that my feelings for you haven't change." Tim says as he reaches out and rubs his thumb gently across Adam's cheek. "But I won't pressure you anymore. Cause I know you love Austin."

Adam reaches up and takes Tim's hand and softly kisses it.

"And I want you to know, that I will still kick Grassi's ass if he ever comes on to you again." Adam smiles.

"Deal." Tim chuckles, leaning forward and kissing Adam softly on the cheek.

*~*  SANDRA  *~*

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