He ran far but his demons found him.

It wasn't hard to close tired eyes and listen to the wind rustle the leaves high in the treetop. The sound was a kin to cicadas on a lazy hot summer afternoon. He breathed in the smell of the dry hay from the field below touched with the recent drizzle that gave the wet grass and almost earthy smell. He just shut his senses down allowing the voices to quiet for a little while.

"How long has he been like that?" Kyle asked his son while watching the sun deflexed off the man's dark hair as he stood up on the top of the highest point in town. It was only a hill but to the town folk it was their mountain.

Jess looked up at his dad with the sharpest blue eyes a human could naturally have. The chubby cheeks of his 9-year-old body accented his freckled face. "About an hour or so, Dad. I don't know. He seemed strangely sad today. Should I tell him dinner's ready." The boy was stopped as his father grabbed his T-shirt from the back of his neck.

"Whoa there, Jess, I'll get him. Tell your Ma we be right there." He pushed the boy to the house before heading up the hill.

Jack opened his eyes as a twig snapped disrupting his peaceful moment. He watched Kyle's steady foot falls walk up the hill. His arms swung gently back and forth making the steep climb look effortless. Jack smiled at the man. Kyle had been very kind to take a man down on his luck in on that rainy night. Something Jack didn't think humanity was able to do anymore, show compassion. But this man and his family did. So he decided to stay when the family needed help for the harvest and tending the animals. Kyle wasn't young any more and Jess was just a boy. Working for room and board was just what Jack was looking for giving him a chance to be just Jack for a change.

"You take to the hill like you have no sense of gravity, Kyle. If I was a mere mortal I would say that you had an ability to fly." He shoulders shifted while he chuckled. "Let me guess, Gloria was complaining again." He closed his eyes again enjoying listening to the man's sure footfalls.

"Well you and I both know you aren't "mere mortal" as you put it. I still swear that you were dead when we found you. That lighting strike would have killed an elephant. But looks can be deceiving. Never once did I believe your story Jack, but if it is what you choose to believe, who am I to judge. I after all am a mere mortal. But yes Gloria thinks you have a God complex." He smiled when he reached the top. Looking at the view he said. "I have been climbing up this hill since I could walk. I hope it is second nature by now. But the view is always worth it." He watched the valley down below as few vehicles pasted his land silently heading into town.

The two men stood in silence listening to the wind bring in the fall weather under the remains of a September summer day. Jack left his eyes closed while Kyle studied Jack.

The man was a rare find. Built on some strong strand of moral fiber yet he was a deviant, one would say bohemian down deep. Kyle didn't mind Jack's sexuality that seemed par for the course with him. Kyle though are farmer was not a simple man. He had an education that did more then stick facts into his head. He understood how the human mind worked. Much has he saw the sexual behavior of his farm animals, he understood that humans may not fit in the mold society had for them. It was rather a simple conclusion when his best friend left town to be with a journalist in New York City, he left for love. It didn't matter that the journalist was a man, only that his friend was happy.

Jack understood Kyle as what the modern man was going to become. At some point humanity was going to change. After all he was a product of that change. Jack appreciated Kyle's open mind, and glad that despite the little town, Kyle taught his sons tolerance.

"You are a rare man Kyle. If you weren't married I would have snuggled up to you at one point!" He opened an eye to gage Kyle's reaction. The man was next to him standing still, his eye closed, much like Jack's, just listening with a devilish grin over his stern face.

"The leaves sound like an engine all at once like that. I think I just heard Gloria's shriek of frustration when she realized I have joined you up here. Jack, Mauve has dinner ready we should head back."

Both men heads jerk up to the sky when they heard the call of a hawk. The black feathers with a russet under coat glided overhead on the hunt. It caught the thermals and coasted around the pair as they late evening sun began to set.

"Marvelous." Kyle whispered. He watched the bird of prey tracing its pattern with his eye movements.

"Did you ever fly?" Jack asked him.

"Twice, went to see Mauve's sister in Yuma before she passed. The other time was when Tyler came home." He watched the hawk circle trying to focus his blurred vision on anything but the pain in his heart. "Why do you ask?"

Jack face was set in stone. He saw the hurt in Kyle's dark eyes. His face was not old as his years just worn. Hard work and loss wore his looks down to dull version of handsome that Jack had seen in early versions of family pictures. But this man was still beautiful. It took Jack a mortal and immortal life to understand death. Through Kyle's world reflected in his eyes through them Jack might start to understand what life is. Kyle missed his first born, but he didn't leave his second to be alone. He gave his love for Tyler right back to Jess.

Jack smiled, a little teary at first. But his idea gave him hope. "I meant to fly, like you pilot the plane." Kyle's eyes went wide. "I have a better idea. Tomorrow, lets get a hang guilder. But now, I think Mauve's roasted chicken just sent a message on the breeze. We better head back." Jack move with great speed as he made is way down the hill.

"Now what is he thinking?" Kyle watched as Jack took the hill as if he was born to it, smiled and sniffed the roast chicken as it hit him.

Mauve was sick of "yesing" Gloria Holden to death over their guest. It was getting to be tiring. So he liked to stand up on the hill after a days work. It wasn't like Jack was a freeloader; he worked and earned pay just like every other farmer in Testament. But today her questioning was just too much. It must be the wind, as Jack would say, something wasn't quite right with it.

"Gloria, no he isn't going to preach and no he is just the same guy you met at church last week. Gloria, he says he likes the view. Yes… I'm aware he has been up there for an hour. Just leave it be." The click on the other end of the phone with the humming of a dial tone had Mauve huffed a breath out as she hung up the phone and returned to dinner. "Well that went better then I thought." She smiled. It was nice to have a stranger staying with them that seemed to generate such curiosity. "She just mad I didn't ask her over. Her husband has been gone for a while now. I think she fancies Jack a little too much." She shuddered not wishing Gloria on anyone.

"Ma, Dad went to get him. Like I told Dad, Jack seems sadder then normal. What could it be?" He went to the bathroom sink right off the kitchen and washed his hands. He then went for the plates and set the table. He saw the flowers in a low vase full with the last remains of blue bachelor buttons and while and pink cosmos daisies. With a smile that it might cheer Jack up he put it on the center of the table.

"Nice touch." His mom complimented. She was well aware of why her son did it. Jack showed up less a month after the death of their son Tyler in Afghanistan. Jess took to the man as if he was there to replace his brother. In away that is what Jack did, but he had some ghosts with him. It showed in his eyes even when he laughed. But Mauve was very patient with the man, if he wished to tell his story, in time he would. But for now it was nice to have another mouth to feed.

Jack did make life interesting. But some of the towns people thought it odd that the day Mauve and Kyle buried their son and nasty storm bought a stranger to their house. He was half dead, a smoldering charred circle on his chest when Kyle came across him near the barn that night. But just as Kyle dragged him into the barn Jack jolted up scaring the shit out of Kyle. Mauve was there then hoping it wasn't a bad omen. She just assumed that what Kyle thought was near death wasn't true Jack was just stunned.

But the gossip did spread a nice little gothic tale that they took in a demon. Mauve laughed that in this day and age people still like the drama behind the facts, that this town wanted to have a Steven King moment and hoped Jack was here for more than just extra help. The storms had been bad since he appeared. But this time of year that wasn't too uncommon. Mauve knew that folks would forget that fact when they found something other to talk about than the prices of corn or wheat. Jack became a topic for conversation and speculation. So when he came to church last week the whole town showed up to see the curiosity.

And Jack was nothing but charming which made the old Reverend Johnson mutter something about how the devil is also a smooth talker.

Sometimes looking at Jack, Mauve's Christian up bringing made her shiver that he wasn't human, but as soon as Jack smiled, she knew that all the hysteria was just generated out of boredom and she was just like the other folks in town that needed to feed on their imagination from time to time. These folks wanted to believe that something bought Jack to them, so they feared and gravitated to him out of needed for something to happen.

It didn't make Mauve feel better about their reaction to Jack now that she saw why. It made her nervous that something bad would come of it. She just prayed that it would blow over and Jack would find a place in the community. She liked having him around as did Kyle and Jess.

She looked out the window as Jess greeted the two men as they arrived in the yard. Jack picked up Jess spinning him around making the boy laugh. It was a nice sound, one she was afraid she wouldn't hear from her second born after her first was killed. Jack was special even put a spring back into Kyle's footstep. So whatever gossip the locals may have dreamt up the reality was that Jack equaled much happiness for her family. And for that she was grateful to whatever force, God or demon that gave them Jack.

The lightening was enough to light the room as the thunder roared right behind it. Jack bolted out of his sleep to a flash followed by something, no someone standing at the bottom of his bed. The thunder roared as he tried to focus on the shadow that was watching him. A quick flash of light revealed it was Ianto. He smiled and then was gone. Jack caught the yell before it left him, fear poured down his neck and his shirt was soaked with sweat. He was trying to catch his breath when the next flash and thunder shout bought a knock on the door.

Jack jerked his head at the direction of the alien sound that had no relationship to the storm. He wet his lips pulling the covers over him as he whispered. "Who's there?'

"Jack, it's Jess, I can't sleep. I thought we could finish the story together."

Relief washed over Jack's face as Jess peeked in when he slightly opened the door. Jack switched the light on by the night stand first making sure Ianto's ghost wasn't at the bottom of the bed before returning his attentions to Jess. The room didn't look as menacing in the light even with the noise of the storm out side. The wind was now calming as was Jack's heart rate.

"Sure, come on in. But you do the writing for a bit, I'm really tied." Jess smiled and jumped on the bed, pad and pen in hand. Jack was glad Jess didn't mind. He knew it would be awhile before his hands stopped shaking. "So where were we? Oh yes our hero was just about to take on three of the giant robots without a weapon." He watched as Jess waited for Jack to begin the next part.

End Part one.

TBC