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Reality is a bitch. Jared always knew that. But ever since Supernatural had ended, reality hit harder than it had in years. Not only was he now out of a job which he had dedicated the better part of a decade to but he was also alone for the first time in a long time. Genevieve had left him, Jensen had returned back to LA to work on a new show, and he was by himself in Vancouver. Somewhere along the line, Gen and he had drifted apart and, although the divorce had been amicable, it still hurt. He got to see Thomas every so often but, since Gen had primary custody, it wasn't nearly as often as he would have liked. What made the whole thing worse was the fact that Jensen was gone as well. His best friend left him, not on purpose though. It wasn't Jensen’s fault that he was wanted to play the lead in a new action show. But to Jared, it didn’t seem to matter. All he could focus on was the fact that he was alone. Well and truly alone. Sometimes, Jared didn’t know how to cope with it.
~~~J2~~~
Blood. It was everywhere. Why was there so much blood? Where was it coming from? Jared looked down in confusion until he realized the blood was coming from him. He was bleeding. Why was he bleeding? Did he cut himself somehow? Reaching a hand to the back of his head, he felt around before pulling away when he felt stickiness. Huh, he was bleeding. Wow, that is a lot of blood. Maybe he should call for help? But a nap sounded so much better. Yeah, he’d nap first and then get help…just a quick nap…
~~~J2~~~
“Jay? Jay, man you got to wake up. C’mon dude, open your eyes. Jay I’m not kidding. Open your goddamn eyes. Don’t do this Jared. Come on. Wake up!” Jared slowly opened his eyes before quickly shutting them against the light. “No, no, open them. Look at me Jared.” Jared tried again and was able to successful open one eye without too much pain. “Focus on my voice Jay. Help is on the way. Okay? So just stay with me…” He tried to nod but found himself unable to do so. “No stay still dude. You hit your head. Just stay with me and don’t try to move.” Jared coughed weakly in reply and felt a hand push away his hair. “Everything will be okay Jay…I promise.” Jared tried to focus on the voice, he really did, but the darkness overcame him once more.
~~~J2~~~
“Mr. Padalecki, can you hear me?” Jared let out a grunt of discomfort as he opened his eyes to see someone standing beside him. He turned his head to the side to see the person better. “Well Mr. Padalecki you gave us all quite a scare there,” the person said with a smile. Jared furrowed his brows in confusion.
“What do you mean? Where am I?” he asked reaching up to rub at his temple where a headache was slowly forming.
“You are at Vancouver General. I am Dr. Ryan Liske. You were found by your friend bleeding and unconscious in your bathroom. Do you remember what happened?” Jared shook his head slowly. “Well Mr. Murray found you lying on the floor and when you didn’t respond to him, he called 911. You were semi-conscious when the EMTs arrived but unconscious when you were admitted. You have been pretty out of it for the past twenty-four hours. Once you were admitted, we stitched up the back of your head which means it will probably be tender for a while and we started you on an IV drip for fluids since you were pretty dehydrated. Do you have any questions for me Jared?” Dr. Liske said as he looked down at Jared.
“Chad found me?” he asked uncertainly. He wasn’t even aware that Chad was in town, let alone at his place.
“Yes, Mr. Murray found you. He has been here since you were admitted but had to step out to take a call shortly before you came to. Now Jared, in a moment my colleague Dr. Lisa Guerra is going to come and ask you a few questions. They are routine for cases like yours and we need you to answer to the best of your ability. After that, Janette, your nurse for the day, is going to come and take your vitals. I need you to stay awake until after she leaves if you can.” Jared nodded and Dr. Liske smiled at him. “Great, well I will see you later Jared.”
As soon as Dr. Liske left the room, Chad walked in. “Jay? Hey man, how are you feeling?” Jared would laugh if his head didn’t hurt so much. Chad seemed almost docile and nothing like his usual self. “You scared me dude. You were out cold in the bathroom and for a while I thought I was gonna have to call your folks and tell them…” Chad trailed off as he sat down in the chair next to Jared’s bed.
“What happened?” Jared asked as he tried to sit up. Chad instantly was by his side, helping him shift around until he was propped up slightly with pillows.
“I dunno man. I got a call from your mama saying she hadn’t heard from you lately and since I had some time off, I figured I would come visit and see why you were playing recluse. When I got to your place, you didn’t answer so I let myself in to wait for you. I just happened to have to go to the bathroom otherwise I might not have found you in time. You have no idea what happened?” Jared shook his head. It was bothering him that he couldn’t remember what went wrong but his head hurt too much to try and figure it all out. Before he could ask Chad anything else, there was a knock on the door.
“Hello Mr. Padalecki, I’m Dr. Lisa Guerra I’m one of the psychiatrists here at the hospital and I have a few questions for you if you don’t mind.” Jared smiled at her and Chad stood up to give her his seat. “Thank you but I prefer to stand actually, I spend way too much time sitting at my desk as it is,” she said with a smile of her own. “Anyway, Jared, can you start by telling me anything you can remember leading up to the accident and anything you remember during or after it up until you woke up today.”
“Yeah sure, um, I remember taking Sadie for a run like I always do in the morning,” he trailed off as he looked anxiously over at Chad.
“She’s fine. I’m staying in the guest room so she has company and all.” Jared sighed thankfully before turning back to face the doctor.
“Sorry, Sadie is my baby and I had completely forgotten about her until now,” Jared explained with a faint grin.
“It is completely fine. You have had a lot to deal with this morning.”
He nodded and ran a hand shakily over his eyes before continuing, “I remember we ran a little longer than normal but then we headed back inside and I drank some water before heading to the bathroom to take a shower. I showered, shaved, and left the bathroom. I think I fed Sadie next before laying down on the couch to read a script my agent sent me. Then I didn’t feel good so I went to the kitchen to get some painkillers because I had a headache and that is all I can remember. I sorta remember someone talking to me telling me to stay with them but honestly I can’t remember anything else until this morning.” Jared looks at her apologetically.
“That’s okay Jared. Can you remember how many and what kind of pills you took for your headache?”
“Um, just two Excedrin like I normally take for headaches, which reminds me can I have something for my headache now?” Dr. Guerra nodded before hitting the button to call the nurses’ station.
“Janette, can you please bring some pain relievers to Jared when you can?” The disembodied voice replied in the affirmative and Dr. Guerra looked back at Jared. “Is there anything else you can recall?” When Jared shook his head, she nodded curtly. “Well Jared, please do not hesitate to contact me or a nurse if you remember more. With head injuries such as yours, confusion is not uncommon and we are going to try our best to help you remember so we can prevent this from happening again.” Jared smiled at her but heaved a sigh when she left.
“Jay, you sure you don’t…” Chad started to say but quickly cut off when Jared turned to look at him, his eyes wide. “What’s wrong?”
“Why did they send a psychiatrist? Do they think that I did this on purpose?” he asked his voice betraying the increasing fear he felt.
Chad shrugged and looked at him, “Sure it’s just cause you can’t remember anything dude. I mean it’s not like you did do this on purpose right? I mean that would be fucked up.” Chad laughed and Jared found himself joining in. But in the back of his mind he wondered if maybe he had.
~~~J2~~~
“Hey baby, how’s my sweet girl doing? Did Chad treat you well?” Jared cooed as he ran his hand lovingly through Sadie’s fur. She head butted his hand affectionately as if to say yes.
“Of course I did Jay-man! I always take good care of her,” Chad said as he carried in Jared’s bag. He had just been released from the hospital after being kept overnight for observations once he had woken up. Chad had ever so thoughtfully ran home and grabbed him some of his essentials when he had come back to feed Sadie.
“You can tell me if he didn’t girl, it will be our little secret,” he playfully said as he flopped down on the sofa. Sadie jumped up next to him and curled up beside him with a content huff.
“So I’m hungry, I was thinking I would order us some Chinese food. The usual?” Chad asked as he pulled out his cell phone.
“Yeah,” he said as he ruffled Sadie’s fur. “Hey Chad, not that I don’t love seeing your face every waking moment, but don’t you have shit to do back in LA?” Chad shrugged and motioned to the phone by his ear.
“Hello, yeah I’d like to place an order for delivery,” he said as he wandered into the kitchen leaving Jared alone in the living room with Sadie. He sighed deeply and rested his head against the back of the sofa cushion. Despite sleeping so much in the hospital, he was still exhausted. Closing his eyes, he tried to remember more. Unfortunately, there was little progress made outside of Jared remembering his muscles hurt in a way they didn’t usually hurt after his morning run. Before he could move past the events he knew, Chad reappeared with a bottle of water and some painkillers the hospital had given him in case the wound started to hurt. “In pain?” Chad asked, holding out the items. Jared shook his head, his eyes still closed.
“Naw just tired. So you never answered me earlier, why are you still here?”
Chad set the bottle and pills down on the coffee table before running a hand through his hair. “You nearly died on your bathroom floor Jared. You really think I’m gonna leave you here by yourself? I mean if it hadn’t been for your mom, I wouldn’t have come up and you would have died. I am sticking around as long as I want to so I can make sure your dumb ass doesn’t die. Now move over so I can sit too,” Chad said pushing at Jared’s shoulder. Jared chuckled slightly but moved to let Chad sit. It was nice to have someone there with him again, even if it was just Chad.
~~~J2~~~
“Hey guys, sorry we can’t come to the phone right now. Leave your name and number at the beep and we will get back to you as soon as we can!” Jared hung up without saying anything. He sighed heavily. It seemed like every time he tried to call Jensen, the answering machine picked up. He knew it was stupid but he felt like maybe Jensen was screening his calls or something.
“Chad! Can I borrow your cell dude?” Jared called out as he booted up his laptop. Chad’s head appeared in the doorway with a puzzled look on his face.
“Yeah but why?” he said as he walked in and handed Jared the phone. Jared shook his head, leaned back in the chair, and dialed the number.
“Hey guys, sorry we can’t,” was as far as the machine got before Jared hung up with a sigh of relief and handed the phone back.
“I thought my phone was messing up so I wanted to check yours,” he lied smoothly before opening up his email and checking for any important ones. Most of them were junk mail but there were a few from his agent and one from the hospital regarding his bill.
“Okay…” Chad said hesitantly. “So Dr. Guerra’s office called this morning to set up a follow up appointment for you to see if maybe you can remember anything else. She wants to see you tomorrow at seven. I knew you didn’t have anything going on so I said you would be there. I can go with you if you want,” he added as he leaned against the wall. Jared nodded absentmindedly before opening up the emails from his agent. Two of them had sample scripts attached. He sighed before hitting delete. “Okay good. We’ll get to the bottom of what happened to you Jay.” Jared looked up to see Chad still standing there.
“Sorry man, I must have spaced. I have no idea what we are talking about,” he said as Chad looked at him, his brow furrowed in concern.
“I said you have an appointment with Guerra tomorrow at seven.” Jared frowned but nodded his agreement. “I know it’s early but she wanted to see you before the clinic opened at eight in case you guys make progress and the session runs long.”
“Fine fine,” Jared replied as his phone started to ring. He rolled over in the desk chair to where he had tossed his phone onto the bed and noticed the number was blocked. Arching an eyebrow, he shrugged and connected the call. “Hello?” At first there was no sound of the other end. “Hello? Who is this?” Jared repeated when silence still met him. He was just about to hang up when all of the sudden, someone spoke.
“Watch your back Jared. Your time is running out. Next time you won’t be so lucky.” Jared looked wide eyed at Chad before the line disconnected.
~~~J2~~~
“Thank you officers,” Chad said as he shut the door behind them and went to rejoin Jared in the kitchen. Jared was leaning against the counter top with his arms crossed in front of his chest. “The police just left and Cliff called to say his flight just landed and he will be here in about forty-five minutes. I also called your folks to tell them about everything. Want me to call Gen?” Jared blinked at him, frown deepening. Chad reached out to shake his shoulder. “C’mon Jay-man, not the time to shut down on me okay. We will find the sick son of a bitch who made the call. It’s nothing to worry about. I used to get calls like that when I first started off. It’s just people who get their rocks off on messing with our heads. It doesn’t mean anything, okay? So want me to call Gen or not?”
Jared seemed to snap out of the trance he was in to shake his head, “Naw he hasn’t been answering lately so it wouldn’t do much good.” Chad looked shocked for a brief moment but decided to not point out the fact that he was referring to Genevieve and not Jensen. Jared obviously had enough on his mind and if he thought Chad was talking about Jensen then it would probably be better letting him believe that. “Chad what bothers me is the fact that they said that next time I wouldn’t be so lucky. Did anyone besides you, my mom, and the doctors know I was in the hospital?”
“No, they kept it all pretty quiet. As far as I know, even the press didn’t find out and you know how they can be.” Jared huffed out a quiet laugh at that. “But seriously Jay, it’s just someone fucking with you. Odds are they just thought it sounded scary. I promise no one knew anything.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Just freaked me out is all,” he said as Sadie wandered into the kitchen. She sat down at Jared’s feet and looked up at him expectantly. “Hey pretty girl, you hungry? Guess it is time for some lunch,” he said as he ran a hand through her fur. Chad walked over to the fridge and pulled out some sandwich fixings.
“I’ll make us some sandwiches if you want to get her food,” he said as if it was totally normal for them to be making lunch together. Jared laughed and grabbed the bag of dog food and Sadie’s bowl.
~~~J2~~~
“Hey Cliff, good to see you,” Jared said as he wrapped the older man in a tight hug.
“You too, it’s been a while.” Jared nodded before releasing his former bodyguard. After Supernatural had ended, Cliff headed back to LA with Jensen at Jared’s insistence. Jared had claimed that Jensen was just too pretty to wander around LA all by his lonesome. Jensen argued that he wasn’t alone but Jared wouldn’t hear it and demanded that Cliff protect Jensen’s virtue at all costs. Jensen finally caved and they hugged tightly before their plane announced that it was time to board. At the time, Jared thought the alone time would be good for him.
“You didn’t have to come here ya know,” Jared said wryly as he lead them into the living room where Chad was currently watching old Gilmore Girl episodes and laughing his ass off at Dean Forester. “Just ignore the idiot over there. I have to keep him an eye on him or he will wander off into traffic.” Chad flipped him off but was too interested in mocking the younger Jared to really reply.
“Well idiot or not, if it weren’t for him I wouldn’t be here. Kid called me saying that you were being threatened and wondered if I could come up here for a while. Didn’t elaborate much but based on the slight bald spot you got going on, I’d say he was smart to call me.” Jared blushed slight and ran his hand self-consciously over the back of his head. Because of the severity of the head wound, they had to shave away some of his hair before they could stitch it up. “So wanna explain why Chad called me here?”
“I don’t remember what happened really but the other day I came back from my run with Sadie and somehow ended up bleeding and out of it in the bathroom. Chad found me and called an ambulance. I woke up in the hospital and they said they had to stitch me up but other than that, I’m okay. Well minus the fact that I can’t remember a damn thing as to why this happened. Then this morning I got a call from an unknown number saying to watch my back and that I wouldn’t be so lucky next time.”
Cliff only nodded as he listened. Once Jared had finished catching him up, he asked, “Did you recognize anything at all about the voice?” Jared shook his head in the negative. The police had asked him that and, unfortunately, there was nothing distinctive about the voice besides the fact that it had obviously been scrambled. “Have you told anyone else this story?”
“No. The only people that know are you, Chad, my momma, the hospital staff and the cops.” Cliff nodded before reminding Jared to keep it that way. The fewer people that knew about what was going on, the better, especially if there was any real threat behind the phone call.
~~~J2~~~
Jared was laying on his back staring at the ceiling when his phone rang. Looking over at the clock, he noticed it was close to one am. Well then, that ruled out the caller being any of his family or friends. Something told him he needed to answer it though. He looked at the display screen and saw it was another unknown number. He grabbed it, dashed out of bed and down the stairs to the guest room where Chad was staying. “Chad! Phone!” He cried out as he opened the door. Chad sat up blinking sleepily at him. “Unknown number,” Jared added for emphasis and suddenly the sleepiness vanished from Chad’s demeanor.
“Answer it,” he hissed before grabbing his own phone and dialing 911, ready to press send at a moment’s notice.
“Hello?” Jared asked, trying to sound like he had just been woken up and scared out of his mind.
“Jay? Shit sorry did I wake you up?” Jared’s entire body deflated as the voice filled his ears. He smiled.
“Not really,” he replied as he waved off Chad’s frantic motions. “Hang on,” he added as he pulled the phone away from his mouth. “It’s just Jensen. Go back to sleep, sorry.” Chad grumbled something but Jared wasn’t listening as he slipped out of Chad’s room and headed back towards his own.
“Is everything okay man?” Jensen asked when Jared announced he was back. Jared let out a slight laugh before filling him in on everything. “Do you want me to come up?” was the first thing out of Jensen’s mouth as soon as Jared stopped talking.
“Well I already have Chad and Cliff here so you don’t have to unless you want to,” Jared said. He knew he could easily say yes and Jensen would be on the next flight out but he also knew that things had changed since Supernatural. He knew he had no right to ask that of Jensen. Granted they were best friends but still Jared knew he shouldn’t ask Jensen to drop everything to protect him from something that may not even be a real threat.
“I’ll catch the next available plane.” Jared’s jaw went slack and a faint smile danced across his lips. “Jay, you are going through hell and besides the show is on hiatus for the next few weeks so that’s not an issue. Dani will understand why and you are my best friend. What kind of person would I be if I wasn’t there in your time of need?” Jensen said with a laugh. Jared rolled his eyes.
“Still not over the virtue protection bit then huh?” Jared retorted before closing his eyes. “Anyway, as much as I would love to chat more, I have to get up in a few hours for a doctor’s appointment so just call me when you have your flight info and I will send Chad to get you.” Jensen snorted on the other end.
“Oh joy. Okay I’ll let ya know when I land. Bye Jay, see ya soon.”
“Night Jen.” Jared hung up and set his phone back down on the bedside table before falling asleep.
~~~J2~~~
“Hello Mr. Padalecki. Good to see you again. How are you today?” Jared smiled as he and Chad were let in the building by Dr. Guerra.
“I’m doing well and please call me Jared.” Dr. Guerra nodded as she turned to walk down the hall.
“Okay Jared, please follow me. I’m going to have to ask your friend to wait in the waiting room until our session is over.” Dr. Guerra said as Chad headed over to sit in the nearest chair. “So Jared, how have you been since I last saw you? Have you been able to recall anything about your accident or the events leading up to it?” she asked as the two of them made their way down a long hallway.
“Sadly, no I haven’t. But I did get a strange phone call the other day and I think they might be linked somehow.” Jared replied as Dr. Guerra ushered him into a room that was well lit and comfortable looking. He sat down on the large couch that was up against the back wall while Dr. Guerra went over to her desk and sat down in the chair.
“What do you mean by strange Jared?”
“It was a blocked number and the voice was scrambled sounding like the person was using one of those voice blocker things.”
“Okay so what did this person say that lead you to believe the call and your accident were connected?” Dr. Guerra prompted as she wrote down a few notes on the chart in front of her.
“They said I should watch my back and that next time I wouldn’t be so lucky. Chad called the cops afterwards but they seem to think it is just another crazy person who just wants to freak celebrities out.”
“And what do you think Jared?”
“I think whoever called me had something to do with the accident. I mean why else would they say that next time I wouldn’t be so lucky? But regardless it freaked me out so we called Cliff and he is staying in town nearby until this whole thing is resolved.”
“Who is Cliff?”
“A friend and he was our bodyguard during Supernatural. He was in LA when it all happened but flew up when Chad called him.”
“You said our bodyguard as in yours and Chad’s?”
“Oh no, mine and Jensen’s. He was my co-star on Supernatural and one of my closest friends. He is actually flying up as soon as he can.”
“Well Jared, I think for now you should continue to rely on the support system you seem to have in place but I also think it would be best if you focused on trying to remember what happened rather than worrying about a phone call that may or may not be connected. So how about we do some different exercises that can help spark memories?” Jared sighed but nodded. Maybe Dr. Guerra was right but if that’s the case, then does that mean this was his fault after all?
~~~J2~~~
Jared was stretched out of the sofa, dozing, with Sadie curled up at his feet when the sound of the doorbell woke them both. Sadie hopped up and went to the door while Jared trailed sleepily behind her. After he and Chad had gotten home from seeing Dr. Guerra, not only had his head hurt but he was beyond tired so once Chad had left to go grab them some lunch, he collapsed on the couch and fell asleep. “C’mon girl, move out of the way so I can let Chad in,” he said as he nudged her out of the way. When he opened the door however Chad wasn’t there. In fact, no one was. Instead there was a small box on the front stoop addressed to him. “Huh, I wasn’t expecting anything,” he mused as he picked up the box and shut the door. He walked into the kitchen to grab a knife to open the box. He was just about to open it when the front door banged open and he was tackled to the ground.
“Honey, I’m HOME!” Chad yelled obnoxiously in his ear. Jared groaned as he shoved Chad off him.
“Dick, you nearly impaled me with the damn knife,” he grunted as he picked himself up off the ground before looking around for the knife. Thankfully it had landed on the counter rather than in him.
“Whatever, you didn’t get impaled and I come bearing food so you will forgive me.” Jared rolled his eyes and reached out a hand to help Chad up off the floor.
“Depends on what you got,” Jared shot back as he went over to the bags to look inside them. “Oh steaks, okay you are forgiven.” Jared pulled out the steaks before heading outside to start up the grill.
“So wanna cook those bad boys while I go pick up Jensen? You said his flight was getting in around 5:45 right?” Chad hollered from inside.
“Yeah that’s what he said,” he shouted back as he reached down to pet Sadie who made her way over to him.
“Cool, I expect dinner to be ready and on the table when I return bitch,” Chad said as he popped his head out the door, “And make mine medium or else!”
Jared rolled his eyes again before he bent down to whisper, “Go on girl, go bite the moron,” playfully in Sadie’s ear. Sadie wagged her tail happily but didn’t move from his side knowing that deep down, Jared was only joking. “Fine, go get Jen and then I will feed you.”
~~~J2~~~
Just as Jared finished putting the steaks on the plates with the salad and potato, the door opened. “Hey guys, food’s almost ready. How was your flight Jen?” Jared said as he wiped his hands on the kitchen towel. Ignorant to the silence filling the air, he grabbed his own plate and headed to the living room. All of the sudden, he heard Sadie growling. Sadie never growled. Putting the plate down, Jared reached into his back pocket for his cell phone. He quickly texted Cliff to call 911, someone was in his house. As he did so, he made his way to the back of the house and to his bedroom. His phone buzzed with the reply from Cliff. It read: Police called. r u alone? get to bedroom n lock door. on my way. Jared would have laughed if he wasn’t currently scared out of his mind. He slid quietly into his bedroom and before he locked the door, he debating whistling for Sadie but figured it would only draw attention to him and potentially hurt her. He shut the door with a soft click and then went into the master bathroom. Jared sent a quick text to Chad telling him to not come back until he said otherwise. As he got Chad’s reply asking why, he heard the lock to his bedroom door disengage. “Shit,” he muttered to himself as he ducked into the large linen closet. As the door knob to the bathroom started to turn, Jared held his breathe.
"Mr. Padalecki? Are you in here? This is Officer Reynolds. There were calls about a potential break-in at this address.”
Jared opened the closet door and stepped out. “Yeah, I was expecting my two friends to come home and thought nothing of it when the door opened but then I heard my dog growling so I told a friend to call 911. Did you guys find anyone in the house?”
The officer shook his head. “No sir, there was no one else on the premises when we arrived.”
Jared frowned. “Are you sure?” The officer nodded and Jared sighed.
“Please do not hesitate to call us again sir if you hear or see anything suspicious.” With that said, the police left Jared alone in his house. He whistled for Sadie who came trotting up to him a few moments later.
“Looks like it’s just us girl now but I wonder who that was earlier. You wouldn’t growl at nothing would you sweetie,” he said running a hand through her fur. As he was talking to her, his phone began to vibrate in his pocket.
“Jare you okay? What the hell is going on?” Chad’s voice filled his ear. In the background, he could hear Jensen asking similar questions in a slightly panicked voice.
“I’m fine. Someone broke into the house but the police couldn’t find anyone when they showed up. They just left.”
“Yeah we just saw the squad cars pull out of the neighborhood. Ackles and I have been chilling around the corner. We are about to pull in. Is dinner ready?” Chad asked jokingly, obviously trying to lighten the mood some.
“Yeah, it’s ready but might need to be warmed first,” Jared said, happy for the change in subject. These past few days have been just too weird. First, there was an accident he couldn’t remember how it happened, then a weird phone call, now this break in? He just wanted things to go back to normal.
~~~J2~~~
“That was delicious man,” Jensen said as he leaned back in the chair to pat playfully at his stomach. Chad laughed and agreed.
“Eh no big deal, least I can do is feed the strong, brave men who have come to protect me from either a psycho or myself. Or maybe I am the psycho,” Jared said with a small smirk. Unfortunately the comment didn’t come across as amusing like Jared intended.
“How ya holding up anyway Jay?” Jensen asked as he got up to start clearing the dishes.
“I’m fine, it takes more than this to freak me out. Remember some of the wacked people that would contact us when we were filming? This is nothing,” Jared said, brushing the concern away. Before Jensen or Chad could reply, the door bell rang. “That’s probably Cliff, he said he was coming over earlier.” Both men looked over at each other and Jared pretended not to see the look the two shared. “Coming!” he called out as he made his way to the front door where Sadie was waiting patiently. He undid the deadbolt and opened the door. “Hey Cliff, thanks for coming but you didn’t have to. Jensen got here a while ago and Chad is still here. Plus I got Sadie here to protect us all.”
“Yeah well as awesome as all those people are, they are no me so I’m here.”
“Hey Cliff! Man it’s been a while,” Jensen said as he walked up behind Jared and pulled Cliff into a hug.
“Yeah, it’s good to see you. It’s been all of what a week?” Cliff said with a laugh. Jensen pushed his shoulder gently and smiled.
“Whatever,” Jensen replied with a wry grin. Jared tried to use the conversation between the two men as a way to escape but before he could duck out of the hallway and back to the kitchen, Cliff turned his attention back to him.
“So tell me more about this afternoon.”
~~~J2~~~
Jared was sitting in his room with Sadie curled up at his feet. He ran a towel over his hair before shaking his head slightly. “You always reminded me of a dog when you would do that,” Jensen said with a chuckle from the doorway. Jared looked up in surprise, he thought he had closed his door. “So Jay we need to talk man.”
“Thought chick moments weren’t your thing Jenny,” Jared said sardonically. Jensen shut the door behind him as he entered the room.
“Drop the macho act and lose the sarcastic attitude okay? I know you aren’t okay and I am not leaving until you and I talk about this. I mean I did come all the way to Vancouver because of this so least you can do is talk to me.”
Jared’s entire posture slumped as he let out a huge sigh. “I’m fucking terrified Jen. I mean on one hand, what if I did do that to myself? What if I hurt myself on purpose and I just can’t remember. But on the other hand, what do I do if someone else did this to me? What if someone is out to really hurt me? I mean it’s not normal to not remember a fucking thing about something as major as nearly bleeding to death on your own goddamn bathroom floor. It helps to have Chad here day and night but sometimes it’s not enough. I am so scared. If this is something I did to myself should I even be left alone ever? And when there was someone in the house that wasn’t you guys, the only reason I was calm was because I knew if I freaked out, whoever it was could have hurt me. I’m just fucking scared. And I don’t know if I’m even making sense cause honestly this whole thing makes no sense and I just dunno Jen.” Jensen sat down on the bed beside him and pulled him into a half armed hug.
“Listen, it’s fucking insane that you are going through this but I do know that I will be here for as long as you need me. We will figure this shit out together just like every other crazy moment in our lives. Okay? We will figure this out.” Jensen said with a smile. Jared hugged him back and for the first time since this whole ordeal started, he felt calm and hopeful.
~~~J2~~~
Jared felt peaceful. He felt at peace with himself and the world around him. He rolled over and wrapped an arm around the person beside him. “Mm morning Gen,” he murmured softly. The body beside him shifted and managed to press closer to Jared. He kissed the top of her head as he slowly opened his eyes.
“Jared, let me go please?” the voice said, followed by a sleepy chuckle. Jared’s eyes flew open at the sound of that voice.
“Shit Jensen. I’m sorry. Thought you were Gen for a moment. Sorry,” he said as he pulled back despite his body protesting the instant lack of warmth.
“It’s okay Jay, not the first time we slept together after all,” Jensen said with a laugh. He rested his head on one hand and looked at Jared with a smile. “Feeling less panicked?” Jared couldn’t help but nod. Having Jensen back by his side was very relieving and for a brief moment, he had forgotten about the accident and the call and the intruder. “Now c’mon let’s get up and go take Sadie out for a walk.”
~~~J2~~~
“So Jared, how are you feeling today?” Dr. Guerra asked as she sat across from Jared for their second session. Jared shrugged. “Has anything else happened since the last time we spoke? Any new recollections about that day?”
“No but the other day there was an intruder in my house when I was home alone briefly. By the times the cops got there though, they couldn’t find anyone. Also Jensen got into town and is staying with Chad and I until this whole thing is solved.”
“Interesting. Now Jared I want to see if we can maybe uncover some of the details about the accident. First we are going to start with a memory exercise that is unrelated to the event. I want you to think back to the very first memory you have.”
~~~J2~~~
The session went by with little progress and Jared started to wonder if any progress would ever be made. After meeting with Dr. Guerra, he headed towards Dr. Liske’s office for a check-up to make sure there wasn’t an infection or issue with the stitches. Jensen and Chad both decided to tag along since neither of them wanted to let Jared out of their sights for too long. It had been about twenty minutes since Jared had gone back before either spoke. “So Chad tell me more about what has been happening, Jared filled me in on the basics but he said you dealt with the cops after the call. What do they think about it all?”
“Honestly Ackles, they think that the two events are unrelated. They think the call was just someone who wanted to scare Jared and that the timing was coincidental. They think what happened to Jay was something he did himself on purpose. I dunno, I mean it would explain why he can’t remember. Plus the tox screen showed high levels of sedative that the doctors believe he gave himself which would also explain the amnesia. But I don’t know what to think. I want to believe someone else did it to him because I can’t imagine why Jay would purposely hurt himself like that but a lot of the evidence points to self harm. That he did it himself.”
Jensen stood up, his face slowly turning a dark shade of red. “Like hell he did this to himself. Someone hurt him and is now trying to hurt him more and I can’t believe you call yourself his fucking friend if this is how you feel. I suggest you get the hell out of here unless you want to be in a world of hurt.” Chad got up out of the waiting room chair and glared hard at Jensen.
“Can’t tell me what to do Ackles. I’ll stay here as long as Jared wants me to and nothing you can say or do will chan…” Chad was cut off when Jensen’s fist connected with his lower jaw.
“Fuck you Murray and get the hell out of here or so help me God, I will fuck you up. If you think Jared could EVER hurt himself on purpose you are out of your fucking mind and he doesn’t need you around.” Of course it was that exact moment that Jared walked out. The look of hurt on his face was enough to tell both men that he had heard the last part.
“Is that what you think Chad? That I did this myself?” Chad shook his head violently and was about to reply when Jared cut him off, “You really think I hurt myself on purpose…that I was trying to off myself or something?”
“No Jay-man you got it wrong. I just think that a lot of the evidence backs that fact…not that I think you did it on purpose.”
“Maybe Jensen is right, maybe you should go. I will book a hotel room for you until you can get a flight out of here.”
“But Jay you…” again Chad was cut off by the look Jared gave him.
“Just go. I really don’t need anyone by my side right now that doesn’t support and believe me. Sorry, just please go,” Jared said, his voice almost breaking on the last part. He hated having to tell one of his closest friends to leave him alone but he didn’t need to know that every time Chad spoke to him about this that he thought he did it to himself.
“Fine, I’ll go. I’m just saying that the facts sure don’t add up right but whatever, I’m outta here. Just remember who was there for you when this all began. Who saved your fucking life? Sure wasn’t Jenny boy over there.” With that said Chad stalked off.
“Wait Chad…I’m sorry,” Jared cried out but Chad was too far off to hear him, or maybe he was ignoring him. Perhaps he was wrong in sending Chad away. Maybe Chad had a point and both he and Jensen were just too stubborn to see it.
~~~J2~~~
Jared let out another dramatic sigh and Jensen smacked him. “Dude stop it. You are gonna drive me up the wall if you sigh one more time,” Jensen said as he reached out to grab the remote.
“I shouldn’t have sent Chad back. He was just trying to be supportive and I got pissed cause he spoke what might be true.” Another sigh.
“Yeah and he might also be saying crap about you that isn’t true. And stop fucking sighing.” A larger sigh.
“Yeah but what if it is true. I mean I can’t remember anything Jen. What if it’s my body’s way of protecting me from whatever it was that cause me to do it in the first place?” This time the sigh was strong enough to move Jared’s hair slightly.
“Okay, now you are doing it on purpose!” Jared let out a small huff of a laugh before nodding. “But all joking aside, if this is something you did or something someone else did there is no point in worrying about Murray.”
“I guess. Just wish I hadn’t been jerk is all. Maybe I’ll call him?” Jared pulled out his phone and started to dial Chad’s number.
“Give him some time to cool off Jare. And give yourself some time to think about it too. If you still want to have him here, call him in the morning. But in the mean time, let’s order some pizza and watch a movie.”
“When did you get so wise Jenny?” Jensen didn’t reply, just smiled.
~~~J2~~~
“I know babe, I miss you too…naw no new leads on either end…yeah…I mean I dunno…Dani not fair…oh so not fair…he’s right here, he fell asleep on the sofa during the movie…good point…okay, I’m on my way to my room…God Dani…” Jared cracked an eye open as soon as he heard the door to the guest room close. He slowly stretched out as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Guess he was more tired than he thought when they sat down to watch Die Hard.
“Let’s go to bed girl, it’s late,” he said as he got up off the sofa. He made his way down the hall to the stairs. Before he could head up to his own room, he heard soft grunting and Jensen’s low voice. He knew he should move on and let Jensen have some alone time especially since he had dropped everything to come to Vancouver. But a small part of him really wanting to press his ear to the door and listen. Fighting the urge to listen in, he continued to head up the stairs and into his own bedroom. Pulling off his shirt, he chucked it in the direction of his hamper before wandering into his bathroom. He went through the motions of getting ready for bed but his thoughts were elsewhere. Specifically, downstairs in the guest bedroom. Before he became serious with Gen, he and Jensen messed around every so often to blow off steam. It was never anything serious and they stopped as soon as Jensen had asked Danneel to marry him. Now that he was hopelessly single, those thoughts had been creeping back into his mind more and more often; thoughts and feelings that Jared had tried so hard to suppress all those years ago. Jared sighed and finished up in the bathroom, running his hand through his hair. He collapsed into his bed as Sadie curled up at his feet. “Night girl,” he said before closing his eyes.
~~~J2~~~
It felt like he had been asleep for mere minutes when something startled him out of his sleep. He sat up and looked around to see if he could figure out what had woken him. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary until his eyes fell on something glistening in the corner under his window. Sadie was sitting just beside whatever it was, whining quietly. “Sades, come here girl,” he said, calling her over to his bed. Pushing back the sheets, he made his way over the window. “Shit, that hurt!” Looking down he noticed that the thing he had run into was a large rock. Someone had thrown a rock through his window. “Fuck…” he muttered as he reached into his hamper for something to cover the broken glass with.
“Jay you okay? I heard something break,” Jensen’s voice suddenly filled the room. Jared turned around to see a Jensen-like shape standing in the doorway illuminated by the hall light.
“A rock, someone threw a fucking rock into my window! What the hell!”
“It’s okay dude, calm down. I’ll check outside to see if anyone is still here and then tomorrow we will get a security system installed to keep this stuff from happening again okay? Just calm down and clean up the glass. C’mon Sadie, let’s let your daddy calm down some.” Jensen called Sadie to him. The two left before Jared could even argue.
“It’s not okay!” he cried out after Jensen just to get the last word before he starts to clean up the shards of broken glass on the floor. Between the break in, the rock, and the phone call Jared was more convinced that someone was out for him and that the “accident” was certainly no accident.
~~~J2~~~
“So Mr. Padalecki, is there anything else we can do for you today? Or is that all?” the young woman asked him. Jensen had been true to his word and as soon as they woke up, he went about getting a security system installed. The company had just finished installing it in fact.
“No ma’am, that is all. Thank you for all your hard work.” She nodded and smiled at him before grabbing her supplies and leaving.
“Well now we have a state of the art security system so if something else happens, we will know who did it,” Jensen said as he walked into the hallway as Jared shut the door.
“Yeah I guess. Still doesn’t make it better. Not only do I have a psycho potentially after me, I also have to replace the fucking window!” Jensen rolled his eyes at Jared. “I just want this all to be over and done with.” Jensen sighs and holds out a white business card.
“Here is the number for a window repair company I had to use after Chris and Steve stayed with me back during filming. Now go call them and call Chad while you are at it if you are going to. I’m gonna take Sadie for a walk and when I return, you better be done making calls cause I am gonna kick your ass in Madden,” Jensen said as he grabbed Sadie’s leash from the hall closet.
“Fine fine, go,” Jared said, barely resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at Jensen like a child. He heard Jensen laughing before the front door shut. Pouting ever so slightly, he wandered into the living room and grabbed his cell phone off the coffee table. The first order of business was to call the window repair company.
“Hello this is Brooks’ Window Repair, how may we help you today?” the voice on the other end of the line said.
“I was wondering how much it would cost to have a second story window repaired and how quickly the repairs could be made.”
“It really depends on the size of the window and the extent of the damage. Do you know the dimensions of the window and the affected area?” Jared replied that he had no idea and the man on the other end waited for him to go measure it. After getting the measurements, the man told Jared that they would be able to fix the window in a few hours and gave him a rough estimate.
“Thank you and I will see you first thing tomorrow morning,” Jared said before hanging up and looking at the phone hesitantly. Now he had to call Chad.
~~~J2~~~
“Let’s go Sadie, your Daddy is probably waiting for us,” Jensen said as Sadie barked happily at him in reply. Reaching down the rub her fur, Jensen smiled while looking around the park. It was good to be back in Vancouver, even if it wasn’t under the best of circumstances. The two started to head back towards the house and were a few yards away, when all of the sudden Sadie seemed to freeze and then tore off in the direction of the house. “Shit! Sadie stop!” Jensen called out as he started to chase after the dog. Unfortunately Sadie didn’t seem to listen and merely kept running. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Jensen panted as he sped up in an attempt to reach Sadie before something happened. Just as suddenly as she started, she stopped, thankfully right in front of the house and started to scratch frantically at the front door. Jensen slowed to a jog as he got closer before a feeling of panic filled him. Why had Sadie done that? Was something wrong? He spirited the last few feet and quickly pulled out his key to unlock the door. “Jared! Everything okay here? Sadie is acting really weird and…” he trailed off as he entered the living room. Jared was lying on the floor, his whole body ridged and shaking. “Shit!” Before he knew what was happening, there was a loud knock on the front door.
“Mr. Padalecki, is everything okay? Something tripped your system and…” was as far as the police officer got before Jensen threw open the door, eyes wide.
“Help, he needs help.”
“Okay sir, calm down, we will get him help. Where is he?” Jensen pointed to the living room and the officer spoke quickly into his unit as he made his way to where Jensen had pointed. “Hey Luce, I need an ambulance at 631 Brookshire Wake Dr ASAP.” Jensen ran a shaky hand through his hair before following behind the police officer.
“What’s wrong with him?” he asked uncertainly. The police shook his head.
“Not too sure son but help is on the way. But for now, I’m going to have to ask you to stay away until we can figure out what happened and why the alarm was tripped.” Jensen’s complexion paled but he did as he was told. Something was not right and that scared him, probably more than it should.
~~~J2~~~
“Hello Mr. Padalecki. Can’t say I am too happy to see you again,” Dr. Liske said with a laugh. Jared blinked in confusion as he looked up at the doctor.
“What happened? Why am I in the hospital again?” Jared asked.
“You were found convulsing on the floor of your home. Mr. Ackles said he came home and saw you on the floor like that. Shortly after he arrived on the scene, the police showed up saying that your security alarm was going off. They are currently going over the security footage and questioning him about it.”
“What? They are questioning him? Why?” Jared exclaimed as he sat up.
“Calm down, perhaps I misspoke. I merely meant that they were reviewing the footage and asking Mr. Ackles to help identify any suspicious activity. That is all,” Dr. Liske replied, placing a reassuring hand on Jared’s shoulder. “Now in the mean time, I would like to try and find out what happened to you. Do you have any recollection as to what happened?”
“No. I just know I was about to call Chad to apologize for kicking him out but that’s all I remember.”
Dr. Liske made a small noise of agreement before writing down some notes in a chart. “Well Mr. Padalecki, since this is the second incident where you have no memory of the event that lead to your hospitalization, I am going to suggest we run a MRI to see if perhaps there is something wrong that could be preventing the retrieval of the memories. Short term memory loss is common with head traumas but you should have been able to recall something from the first event by this point. So I am inclined to think that something is wrong. I am also going to order a tox screen to see if there is anything you can’t account for in your system. I will have Melissa prep you for the MRI and I will be back when the results have come in.” Jared nodded and sighed deeply before leaning back onto the hospital bed.
“Thanks Doc,” he said. He nodded before leaving Jared alone with his thoughts. Why was this happening to him? First he was knocked unconscious and bloody, then that call, then the break-in followed by the broken window and now this! Something major was going on. Someone was truly out to harm him. Now there was no doubt in his mind that this was someone else’s doing and not his own. And he was determined to get to the bottom of it…as soon as the hospital released him.
~~~J2~~~
When both the MRI and tox screen had come back with no major abnormalities, Jared had been released. Dr. Liske had recommended another meeting with Dr. Guerra to see if they could dig deeper and find out what, if anything, the machines might have missed. Upon Jared’s promise he would follow up with her, he was set free. When he stepped out into the waiting room on his way out, he ran into not only Jensen but Chad as well.
“Hey Jare, they said you were just released and on your way down so we figured we would wait here for you. We need to talk,” Jensen said as Jared approached them. Chad nodded in agreement before looking down sheepishly.
“Listen JT I want to apologize for how I reacted earlier,” Chad stared before Jared held up and hand to stop him.
“Naw, I should be the one to apologize. I shouldn’t have sent you away like that,” Jared said. Chad smiled faintly before pulling Jared into a bone-crushing hug.
“I still shouldn’t have acted that way, we good man?” Jared nodded into Chad’s shoulder and he felt as the tension seeped out of his friend.
“Now that that is out of the way, we should get out of here and talk about what is going on and what the next steps are. Plus, Jay you really should know what I saw on the security footage.” Jensen spoke up as the two friends pulled apart.
“Okay, let’s head back to my place then.”
“No, let’s go get something to eat and we can talk there,” Chad suggested with a quick glance in Jensen’s direction. Jared looked confusedly between the two before shrugging and agreeing. The three of them headed out of the hospital and piled into Jensen’s rental.
“So where to? What do you want Jay?” Jensen asked as he pulled out of the parking space.
“Italian sound good to you guys?” Jared replied and when both men nodded in agreement, he added, “Okay then. Jen, remember that cute mom-and-pop place that we used to go to when we were filming?”
“Yeah, Il Mio Amore right?” Jared smiled and nodded. Jensen caught his eye for a brief moment and smiled back. Il Mio Amore had been the one place they would go to back when they were messing around. It had been their place in a way and it made Jared glad to know that Jensen still remembered it. Chad coughed faintly from the backseat and effetely broke the moment between the two.
~~~J2~~~
“Benvenuti al mio amore, il mio nome è Sofia. Che cosa posso ottenere voi oggi?” the waitress asked once the three men were seated at a small, isolated table in the back of the restaurant. Chad looked at her in wide-eyed bafflement as Jared let out a soft chuckle.
“Tre birre e un momento di guardare oltre il menu per favore Sofia,” Jensen replied in perfect Italian as Jared opened the menu and began to look over it. Neither of them really needed time to look but felt like they should give Chad a chance to figure out what he wanted.
“Dude when you said Italian I thought you were talking about a place like Olive Garden when they speak freaking English and I know what I am eating,” Chad whined quietly to Jared as Sofia walked away to get their drinks.
“Don’t worry about what you get, it’s all good here,” Jared said absentmindedly as he watched Jensen under the guise of reading the menu.
“Still I don’t understand a thing on here! How will I know what to get?” Jensen laughed at that.
“Just have what Jay usually gets and you will be fine,” he replied as he played with the corner of the menu like he always did. Jared caught the motion and smiled to himself before pausing. Jensen only fidgeted when he was nervous.
“Jen?” Jensen looked up at him before shaking his head.
“Wait ‘til the food comes okay Jay?” Before Jared could reply or push the matter further, Sofia returned with their beers.
“Avete deciso cosa vorreste?” she asked, pulling out a small pad of paper when Jensen nodded. He looked over at Jared expectantly like he always did.
“Vorrei che il minestrone e la pizzaiola carne con il riso. Il mio amico qui avranno lo stesso,” he said, motioning towards Chad at the last part. Sofia nodded as she wrote down the order.
“E lei signore?” she asked as she turned toward Jensen.
“Vorrei che la panzanella e baccalà alla vicentina per favore.” Sofia nodded and gathered up their menus before heading back to the kitchen.
“So what’s up Jen? Why are you so nervous,” Jared asked as soon as she was out of ear shot. Jensen looked at Chad before looking down at the table. “Jensen what did you see?” he asked again when neither man replied and refused to meet his eyes.
“I said wait until the food comes Jay,” Jensen finally said, his voice shaking ever so slightly. Jared wanted to argue and was about to until he felt Chad’s hand on his shoulder.
“Just wait okay, in the meantime tell me what the hell I am going to be eating,” Chad said with a laugh. Jared let the subject drop and it didn’t escape his notice that Jensen released a soft sigh when he started to describe the food for Chad.
~~~J2~~~
Jared waited as patiently as he could once the food had arrived. They got about halfway through the meal before Jared cracked. “Okay, the food is here. Now tell me what you saw on the footage.” For a brief moment, neither of them spoke. “C’mon, just tell me what the hell happened. Did you see anyone who could have caused my second accident?”
Jared was losing his patience and was about to speak again when he heard Chad barely mutter, “Just tell him.” Jared nodded and looked at Jensen expectantly.
“No,” was all the older man said.
“Why the hell won’t you tell me?” Jared ranted, barely restraining himself from slamming his fist on the table in frustration.
“No, Jay. I mean no one was on the footage at all. The only person there was you,” Jensen repeated, refusing to meet Jared’s eyes.
~~~J2~~~
“Jay? You in there?” Jared stared intently at the wall and ignored the knocking on his door. “C’mon Jay open up.” Jared refused to acknowledge Jensen’s persistent attempts to talk to him. Ever since he had left the restaurant, he had locked himself in his room and refused to speak to them. It was totally childish, and probably unnecessary, but he couldn’t help but feel like Jensen was accusing him of doing this himself. “Fine, don’t open up. But I’m not leaving until you open the damn door and we talk about this like adults. I don’t care how long you wanna pretend to ignore me but we are gonna talk. I didn’t mean anything by what I said in the restaurant. So open the damn door so I don’t have to sit on the cold floor.” Jared smiled slightly at the last part. He knew he could probably out-wait Jensen but his friend does have a stubborn streak and would wait as long as it took. Maybe it would just be easier to get it over with and talk to him.
With a heavy sigh, Jared got up and opened the door a crack, “Talk.” Jensen rolled his eyes.
“Listen, things got out of hand at the restaurant. I didn’t mean to say that it might have been your fault. It’s just when you got in my face about the footage, I snapped slightly. Dude this all just freaks me out. Something bad is happening to you and the camera caught no one else here. I said things I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry okay. We good?”
Jared nodded before opening the door wider. “Yeah, we’re good,” Jared said, leaning against the door frame.
“So listen, Chad is staying over and so he doesn’t have to sleep on the couch, he is taking my room and we are having a ‘protect Jared from the bad guys’ evening here in your room. So move aside and let me in,” Jensen said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“Aw Jenny, you wanna have a sleepover? You could have just asked. So are we gonna do each other’s hair and swap secrets?” Jared said, a huge grin spreading across his face as he stepped aside to let Jensen into the room.
“Shut it Jay. Just shut it.”
~~~J2~~~
Jensen was startled out of his sleep when he heard his phone ringing. Half awake, he sat up sleepily and reached a hand out to try to find it. Grabbing it, he looked down at the display and say it was Danneel calling. “Hey babe, what’s up?” he asked, his voice husky from sleep.
“Did I wake you? Sorry. Just got done shooting and guess I didn’t realize how late it was.” Jensen smiled.
“You did but it’s not a problem. How was filming today?” As Danneel started to talk about her day, Jensen slumped back down onto the bed. He felt himself falling asleep the longer she talked and with a yawn added, “Hey Dani ‘m about to fall asleep so can I call ya tomorrow?”
“Sure, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Good night and sleep well.” Jensen mimicked the sentiments before hanging up the phone and closing his eyes. Merely moments after he shut his eyes, he heard a pain moan come from Jared. “Hey Jare, wake up. It’s just a dream,” he said half-heartedly as he shook Jared’s shoulder. When Jared didn’t wake up, he shook a little harder. He was about to kick Jared in the leg when he sat up with a gasp.
“Gen…don’t…” he broke off, looking around the room in confusion. Jensen rolled over onto his side and looked up at the younger man.
“It was just a dream Jared. Go back to sleep,” he said trying to reassure him. Jared looked down at him, his eyes shining with unshed tears.
“They hurt her Jen. They hurt her. They went after her too and she…they…” he whispered, his voice breaking on the last part unable to finish the sentence.
“Genevieve is fine Jared. It was a bad dream so just lie down and go to sleep. It’s all okay,” Jensen said around a yawn. He felt the bed shift and, when he felt satisfied that Jared was lying down again, he allowed his eyes to shut.
“They killed her Jen,” Jared mumbled, his voice thick with emotion. Jensen opened one eye, both flying open when he saw the tears that slowly trailed down Jared’s features. “She got…killed because of m…me.” Jensen figured it was pointless to try and get Jared to see reason tonight since he was so obviously shook up by the dream. So instead of telling him it was okay, he pulled Jared in close and allowed the taller man to curl up in his arms. “There was so much bl…blood Jen. And it was all…my fault,” he said brokenly as he cried into Jensen’s shirt. Jensen made soft shushing noises as he ran a hand through Jared’s hair. Once Jensen felt Jared’s sobs stop and his breathing even out, he went to pull back and wasn’t too surprised when Jared tightened his grip around the other man’s shirt. “Don’t leave Jen,” he whispered.
“I’m not going anywhere Jay,” he replied as he pulled Jared closer. They stayed like that for the rest of the night.
~~~J2~~~
“What made you decide to see me before our set appointment Jared?” Dr. Guerra asked as she wrote in her notepad. Jared shrugged before sighing.
“I had a dream last night.” When she nodded for him to continue, he took a deep breath before hesitantly adding, “It was about the men who attacked me. They killed Gen. It really freaked me out because I haven’t seen Gen sine this whole thing started so there is no way those guys really did anything to her right? They were just part of the nightmare?” Dr. Guerra looked at him for a brief moment before jotting something down on her pad.
“Well Jared sometimes dreams can be a manifestation of our subconscious. Perhaps the men you dreamed of are people you have met before. What makes you think they attacked you? Do you remember anything they said?”
“They didn’t say anything actually. And I just knew. One of them caused the first accident and the other caused the second one.”
“Jared, you saw that no one was on the premise when the second incident occurred. But I would like to go over the details of the dream more. What time of day was it?” Dr. Guerra asked with her pen poised over the pad.
“I don’t really remember. I think it was night? Why does that matter? Shouldn’t we try and figure out who those guys were?”
“Okay, where did the dream take place?” she continued, completely ignoring Jared’s questions.
“I don’t remember. I just know Gen was being killed because of me! Fuck the details! My wife died and it was the same damn men who have been hurting me! That is what is important here!” Jared all but screamed, his patience running out.
“Calm down Jared. The details are important because perhaps they will give us information about the actual incidents. It seems this dream might have been your brain’s way of trying to help you remember what happened. And I thought this Gen was your ex-wife? Were you still married in the dream?”
Jared frowned deeply but took a calming breathe before he spoke, “Fine, if you think it will help get to the bottom of who attacked me then we can. And yeah, she was wearing her ring still. Why does that matter?” Dr. Guerra didn’t reply right away. “Does it mean anything?” he asked again.
“It doesn’t really mean anything that could be relevant to why you are seeing me but it could mean that you regret the divorce. If that is the case, after this whole situation is resolved I would be happy to help you work through those thoughts. But for now, I want to focus on the rest of the dream. What else can you tell me about the dream?”
~~~J2~~~
All and all, the whole session really didn’t uncover much but it did get Jared thinking about things. As soon as he was outside again, he pulled out his cell and dialed Genevieve’s number. “You have reached Gen, Mark, and Thomas. We aren’t here right now but leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as we can!” Genevieve’s cheerful voice filled his ear. He sighed heavily. He knew that she had remarried a year after the divorce was finalized and it never really bothered him but some of the things Dr. Guerra had mentioned had made him think that maybe he wasn’t as okay with it all as he had seemed. Or it could just be more psychological crap that really meant nothing. He sighed; this whole thing was just confusing.
“C’mon man, let’s go!” Chad said from the car. Neither Jensen nor Chad wanted Jared going anywhere alone lately and as much as he appreciated his friends trying to look out for him, it got annoying every so often. Although it annoyed him, he was just thankful they hadn’t called his mama up here yet.
“Yeah coming,” he replied as he made his way to where the car was parked. Once he was in, Chad tore out of the parking lot.
“Jen said he wanted us to stop by the store on our way back,” he said conversationally when he realized Jared wasn’t going to do the talking like usual.
“What do we need? Didn’t he just go yesterday?” Jared replied absently. Chad looked over at him briefly before returning his eyes to the road.
“Yeah he did but he wanted to make the dinner tonight and he didn’t get the stuff yesterday.”
“Okay.”
“Dude, you okay?” Chad looked over again, his features marred with worry and slight confusion.
“Yeah I’m good. I’m just tired?” The last part came out as more of a question than statement but Chad knew better than to try and press the subject. He figured that Dr. Guerra had said something that got to Jared but since Jared wasn’t being forthcoming, he dismissed it as something irreverent to the situation at hand.
“Yeah I hear ya man, I have been tired lately too,” Chad replied. He never looked away from the road but he could tell Jared was glad he let the subject drop.
~~~J2~~~
“Hey Jen, can you get that?” Jared called out when he heard his phone ringing, “I’m in the middle of feeding Sades.” Jensen arched an eyebrow as he walked into the kitchen to grab Jared’s phone.
“It is right here dude, you could have done both.” Jared just shrugged. “Hello? Jared’s phone,” he said as he answered.
“Third time’s the charm Ackles. Next time your friend won’t make it out alive,” was all the voice on the other end said before the line disconnected. Jensen looked at the display in confusion.
“What the fuck?” he muttered. He looked down at the display in confusion. The call came from a restricted number.
“Who was it Jen?” Jared asked as he wandered back into the kitchen after putting away the dog food.
“I have no idea.” Jared’s eyes widened slightly.
“What do you mean? Lemme see,” he said, making grabby hands at Jensen. Before Jensen could hand over the phone, Chad walked into the kitchen, his face paler than normal. Without saying a word, he went over to the answering machine and hit play.
“First there was blood. Then there were drugs. Next time you won’t get away alive Jared. Third time’s the charm and we will make sure no one can save you this time.” All three looked at each other, the fear obvious on their faces.
“Maybe it would be a good idea to get out of here?” Chad said, his voice shaking slightly. Jensen nodded once before pulling out his own phone and calling Cliff. Chad mirrored him and quickly called the police. While both men were on the phone, Jared slowly slid down the wall and onto the floor. Sadie came over and nudged his hand slightly as if to say it would be okay.
“Jay, Jay you okay? Hey look at me,” Jensen suddenly appeared in front of Jared. “It’s gonna be okay. We are gonna get you out of here. You’ll be fine okay?” Jared’s eyes finally met Jensen’s and he couldn’t help himself. This was all too much – the fear, the uncertainty, the look of concern on Jensen’s face. All those feelings he had been repressing and trying to ignore came flooding to the forefront of his thoughts. How could he have doubted his divorce when Jensen was here? How could he have doubted anything with Jensen? Jensen was his rock. Jensen was…his everything. Before he knew what was happening, his lips were pressed against Jensen’s. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this but he also knew Jensen should not be kissing back. Yet here they both were doing exactly what they shouldn’t be.
“The cops are on their way over right now,” Chad’s voice called out, barely preceding his body. Both men jerked apart, embarrassment and confusion coloring their faces. Before Jared could say anything, Jensen was on his feet and walking over to Chad.
“I’ll be back in a bit, I have to…” he trailed off as he all but bolted from the kitchen. Chad arched an eyebrow at Jared who was sitting on the floor still in confusion. “What was that all about?” he asked as he walked over to join Jared.
“I kissed him. I screwed up and kissed Jensen. I was scared and he was there and I fucked up. I fucked up Chad,” Jared said brokenly. Chad didn’t say anything, just wrapped an arm around his shoulders and the two of them sat there like that until the police arrived.
~~~J2~~~
“We will have Officer Reynolds stationed here to keep an eye on you. Just give us a call if you see or hear anything out of the ordinary Mr. Padalecki. Have a good night,” the officer said as they finally left. Jared nodded before shutting and locking the door behind them. He turned to look at Cliff and Chad.
“Dinner’s ready,” Jensen called out from the kitchen. Once the police had arrived, Jensen had vanished into the kitchen to start cooking. Jared knew he was trying to avoid him and, with the cops there, had no problem letting him do just that. Chad grinned at Jared before making his way toward the kitchen.
“Wait a second Jared. I wanna ask you something,” Cliff said, catching Jared’s arm before he could move.
“Yeah what’s up?” he replied.
“Is everything okay between you and Jensen? Things seemed kind of tense when I got here and before you try to tell me it is nothing, I know you boys better than you think.” Jared sighed and just shook his head before pulling away. “I thought so. I’m not gonna ask what happened but whatever it is, it can’t be worse than what is happening. You boys need to kiss and make up so you can stick together right now okay?” His voice left no room for argument and Jared had to restrain himself from flinching at Cliff’s wording. “Good, now let’s go see what he cooked up this time,” Cliff added with a laugh.
~~~J2~~~
Running a towel over his hair, he sat down on the end of his bed. Pulling on a pair of sweatpants, he watched Sadie trot over to the bed. Sadie jumped up beside him and he leaned back to nuzzle his face in her fur. “This whole thing is so fucked up girl. God why did this have to happen? I was doing okay, I was forgetting how I felt and moving on. I was…” Sadie butted her body against him as if to say he was lying. “Yeah okay, I wasn’t okay but I was moving on. I accepted I could never be with Gen again and could never really have Jen the way I wanted him. And then this shit had to happen and he had to come.” Sadie snorted in agreement. Jared sighed and curled up on the bed beside her. Now he had to deal with both these crazy threats and attacks on top of dealing with his feelings for Jensen. Could his life suck anymore if it tried? A soft knock on his door startled him out of his thoughts.
“Jay? Can I come in?” Jared groaned quietly. He had hoped that he would be able to avoid Jensen at least until morning but knowing him, he couldn’t ignore his conscious for long.
“Yeah, it’s open.” The door opened just enough for Jensen to slip inside. Jared sat up slightly to look at Jensen. The two of them stared at each other from a moment before Jensen sat down on the edge of the bed, Sadie lying between the two of them.
“I talked to Dani.” Jensen said to the floor. Jared knew this was the moment where Jensen would tell him that the kiss was a mistake and nothing could ever happen between them again. That he was in love with Dani and he valued their friendship but it wouldn’t destroy his marriage. “She understands and knows that this is where I belong.” Jared blinked rapidly.
“What did you say?”
“Were you not listening to a word I said?” Jared had the decency to look away from Jensen’s now piercing gaze that was focused solely on him and blush. He shook his head slowly. “I told her about the kiss and we both agreed that this is where I belong. We both knew this was a long time coming but we were too stubborn to really admit it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean it’s over Jared. It’s been over for a while actually.” Jared looked up at Jensen, his eyes wide but hopefully.
“But I heard you guys on the phone a while back and it didn’t seem over then.”
“Eavesdropping Padalecki?” Jensen asked with a laugh. Jared blushed deeper and refused to meet Jensen’s eyes.
“All I’m saying is that it didn’t sound very over. Sure you’re not just saying all this to make me feel less guilty about kissing my best friend who is married?” Jensen chuckled again at that.
“No Jared, I’m not. Dani and I have been talking for a while about calling it quits. Honestly, she had an affair a few months ago with a guy she was filming with and we have been trying to patch things up ever since. Tonight was just the thing that made us realize that this ended a long time ago and we have just been kidding ourselves.” Jared didn’t say anything in reply. Just sat there and stared at Jensen. “It won’t be official until I get back to LA and we can meet with our lawyers but we both agreed that it was time.”
“Is this a dream?”
“No, it’s not Jay. It’s very much reality,” Jensen said before he leaned across Sadie’s sleeping form to gently press his lips to Jared’s.
~~~J2~~~
The two of them lay wrapped up in each other’s arms, just looking at each other and not saying a word. Neither knew what time it was or how long they had been like that but neither was making an effort to find out or move. Jared still wasn’t convinced this wasn’t a figment of his imagination or not but he wasn’t going to complain. If it was a dream, then he didn’t want to ruin it. “What ya thinking about?” Jensen said, his voice so low Jared wouldn’t have been able to hear him if he wasn’t so close.
“Not sure this is real,” Jared replied, his voice just as low. Jensen smiled before pressing his lips against Jared’s again.
“Does it feel real?” he asked against Jared’s lips. Jared could only nod. “Then it is real.”
“That’s not good logic,” Jared said with a slight huff. Even if he wasn’t so close to Jensen he would have been able to hear the eye roll that Jensen gave him.
“Fine, then does this feel real?” Jensen asked as he pressed his hips closer to Jared’s. Jared let out a small gasp before pressing back.
“Yeah that’s feels fucking real. God Jen,” he whimpered when Jensen began to rock their hips together slowly.
“So stop questioning it and enjoy,” Jensen replied before kissing Jared harder than before. Jared closed his eyes and went along with it, enjoying the feel of Jensen so close and warm. As the kiss got deeper, there was frantic knocking on his door.
“Jared, man, wake up! I smell something burning!” Chad’s panicked voice filtered through the door. Both men pulled apart and Jared sniffed the air. It wasn’t until then that he realized Sadie was scratching at the door and whining.
“Fuck!” Jared exclaimed as he got off the bed and rummaged around on the floor quickly for his shoes. Jensen moved just as quickly opening the door and, upon seeing a frightened Chad, tore down the hall to get his own shoes and phone.
“I already called 911 but I can’t figure out where the smell is coming from. We need to get out here Jay.” Jared nodded and the two made their way down the stairs. Before they could get much farther than that, Jensen and Sadie were hot on their heels.
The sudden heat of fire filled the room as they made their way through the living room and to the front door. They weren’t outside but for a few moments when the sound of glass blowing out filled the night air. “Fuck, fuck, we gotta get away,” Jensen said as they all scrambled away from the house.
“Mr. Padalecki, is everyone okay?” Officer Reynolds was at their side almost instantly once they were a safe distance away.
“Yeah I think so,” he said looking from Chad to Jensen who both nodded in agreement.
“The firefighters are on their way right now,” Officer Reynolds added. Jared nodded before collapsing on the ground. If it hadn’t been for Chad, he might not have gotten out in time. The fire that was now consuming his house might have consumed him too.
“Chad?” He waited until he had his friend’s attention before adding, “Thank you.” Chad smiled at him before sitting down as well, rubbing at Sadie’s fur absently as he watching the house burn. Jensen walked over to where Jared was and sat down next to him. Jared didn’t realize he was shaking until Jensen pulled him close to him. Having Jensen beside him was helping to ground him. Reaching out, Jared intertwined their fingers together. Jensen looked down briefly before squeezing his hand in reassurance. They both stared at the house without saying a word but they knew it would somehow all be okay.
~~~J2~~~
“Thankfully we were able to contain the fire to the place of origin and the dining room. But unfortunately there is too much structural damage to allow us to safely let you stay there. Is there anywhere else you can stay until you can have the damage repaired?” the firefighter asked as she look back and forth between the three men.
“Yes. There is somewhere we can stay. About how long do you think the repairs will take?” Jensen said, surprising Jared.
“Well sir, I’m not really sure but depending on who you hired to fix it, it could take anywhere from a week to a month. There are several companies we can recommend if you would like.” Jensen nodded and led the woman away to get the information.
“So it looks like Jenny’s taking charge here?” Chad said, the statement getting lost somewhere between affirmative and confused. Jared smiled at Chad.
“Yeah, guess so,” he replied as he watched Jensen talk to the firefighter. Jensen had always been the one in their friendship to step up when it was required. It was one of the things Jared loved about him. Jensen was always the one to pick up the pieces when Jared’s life seemed to spiral out of control.
“So you guys are okay again then huh?” Chad asked as he watched Jared watch Jensen.
“Yeah we are,” he replied absentmindedly, “We are more than okay I think,” he added under his breath.
~~~J2~~~
Jared stood in the doorway looking at the charred remains of his kitchen. The contractor had just finished explaining to them the repairs that would be necessary before the house could be deemed livable again. Something silver flashed in the corner and caught his eyes. “Huh, what are you?” he said out loud as he carefully made his way over to the item. He bent down to get a better look at it and was surprised when he couldn’t identify it. It was a silver watch that was slightly melted but still recognizable, but it didn’t belong to his collection. He took off his button down and used it to carefully pick up the watch. Underneath there was a slightly charred piece of paper. Using the shirt to shift the paper into view, he bent down farther to try and read it.
… time is up. Tick tock Jared… Whatever the rest of the note said was unreadable because of the fire.
“What ya looking at?”
“Fuck! Dude you scared me,” Jared exhaled as he turned around to see a grinning Chad in the doorway. “Hey come look at this, you recognize it?” Chad made his way over to where Jared was standing before crouching down to get a better look.
“Nope, can’t say I have ever seen it before sorry. Did you order it and not remember?” he asked looking up at Jared.
“No, I haven’t ordered anything lately…” he trailed off. “Wait a second. The day of the break-in, I got a package but I never opened it because you were too busy trying to impale with the knife,” he said, “You think this could be it?”
“Did you leave it in the kitchen?” Jared nodded and then Chad added, “Then I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. Was there anything else you found with the watch?” Jared motioned towards the note and Chad let out a disbelieving huff of air. “Well fuck me sideways,” he said in a soft voice. Jared couldn’t agree more.
~~~J2~~~
Lying on the sofa in Jensen’s hotel room, he let out a loud sigh. “Jay stop sighing and get ready,” Jensen called out from the bathroom.
“When you said somewhere to stay I didn’t think it would be a hotel room, I miss Sadie,” he shot back, not moving from his spot.
“Yeah well it’s the best I could do okay? Now seriously get up and go get ready. The police want us down at the station soon to go over the security footage and evidence.” Jared sat up and glared at the bathroom door from his position.
“I am ready.” Jensen’s head appeared around the door frame and grinned at Jared.
“Ready requires clothes Jay. Go get dressed.” Jared sighed again before getting up off of the sofa and wandered over to the dresser.
“I’m wearing pants, isn’t that dressed enough?” Jensen didn’t reply but he could hear him chuckle from the bathroom before the water cut on. Jared smiled wickedly and started to make his way over to the bathroom.
“Don’t even think about it Jay. I just need to shower quickly and we do not have time,” Jensen’s voice floated out of the bathroom.
“I wasn’t gonna do anything Jenny,” he replied but figured Jensen would get pretty pissed if he decided to flush the toilet now so instead he redirected his efforts to getting dressed.
~~~J2~~~
After a long afternoon spent at the police station, there wasn’t very much progress made. However there were three things they could say with certainty. The first is that Jared was innocent and someone else was trying to hurt him. The second is that whoever was after Jared had an intimate knowledge of editing security footage. The third is that Jared hates police stations. “I’m so glad we spent four hours of our life going over what I already knew! What a fucking waste of time.”
“Well least you don’t have to keep going to Guerra now?” Chad said as they all headed back to the hotel they were staying in. Jared grumbled something under his breath but neither of them understood it.
“And also we now know that there is foul play involved so we are one step closer to figuring out what is happening,” Jensen added as he turned the car into the hotel parking lot. Jared didn’t say anything, just sighed again. He had always known that it wasn’t him, but the seeds of doubt were always there. He did have to admit, it was nice to not have people questioning him anymore.
~~~J2~~~
Jared was just getting out of the shower when he heard Jensen came back in, hopefully with the several bags of Chinese takeout they had ordered. He heard him knock on the connecting door between their room and Chad’s before calling out, “Dinner’s here!” Jared pulled on a pair of sweatpants and wrapped the towel around his shoulders so the water wouldn’t drip down his back and into his pants.
“Awesome,” he heard Chad say through the bathroom door. “Where’s Jay-man?”
“In the shower, should be out shortly.”
“Good, we need to have a talk Ackles. Jay seems to be happier lately despite everything that is going on so whatever you did, keep doing it. Just don’t get too loud, don’t do it in front of me, and if you break his heart I swear I will break you. Got it?” Jared had to stifle a laugh at Chad’s words.
“Yeah Murray, I got it but I think you have the wrong idea about us. We aren’t together,” Jared’s jaw dropped and he felt his heart sink. He had his hand on the doorknob and was about to go interrupt and possibly yell at Jensen when he heard Jensen add, “Well not yet anyway. Things are too complicated now for us to be officially together since I’m still legally married to Dani but I want to be with him so I’ll keep all that in mind for the future.” Jared smiled and was still grinning when he opened the bathroom door to join them.
“Entertaining shower?” Chad asked with a wink as he began to rummage through the bags to find his food.
“Yeah I guess you could say that,” Jared replied cutting Jensen a quick glance before joining Chad in the hunt for food.
~~~J2~~~
“Can I talk to you Jen?” Jared asked as they both lay in bed later that night.
“Yeah sure,” Jensen replied as he rolled over onto his side to look at Jared.
“Remember what you had said on the night of the fire,” he started before trailing off nervously. He knew after overhearing Jensen and Chad’s conversation he should wait until after they catch the person who is trying to kill him but he just couldn’t. Jensen looked at him, almost expectantly, and nodded before Jared continued, “What are we?”
Jensen pressed his lips together before shrugging one shoulder. “We are us. We are Jared and Jensen.” Jared frowned at that reply but figured that was the best he was gonna get until this whole situation was done.
“Okay,” he replied before reaching out to pull Jensen closer to him. He might not be able to get Jensen to admit what they were to each other for now but he would be damned if he couldn’t cuddle.
~~~J2~~~
“It is good to be home,” Jared said as he opened the front door. The repairs had finally been finished and he was able to return home. Sadie let out a bark of agreement as she walked inside and headed toward her usual spot on the living room floor.
“Looks good,” Jensen said as he wandered in behind them, Chad bringing up the rear.
“Can barely tell there was a fire here,” Chad agreed. Jared shot him a look and Chad just shrugged, “Well you can’t.”
“Oh hey, you have some voicemail messages,” Jensen called out as he saw the light blinking. Jared came over to listen. The first was from his mother and he deleted it almost instantly. She had also called his cell phone and she had been caught up on everything. It had been quite an argument when she had insisted she come up. Jared was already risking Chad and Jensen’s lives with this whole debacle; he refused to have his mama caught in the cross-fire. The next was an appointment reminder from Sadie’s vet. One was nothing but static and a quick check to the caller id announced it as a telemarketer. The second to last one was a reminder from his agent about several upcoming auditions that he planned on blowing off.
“So far so good, no creepy calls,” Chad said before Jared could hit play again.
“Hello Mr. Padalecki, this is Officer Reynolds. We think we might have a break in your case. Could you please call me back when you get this message? Today is Monday June 18th at 10:35 AM. Hope to hear from you soon. Again this is Officer Reynolds.” Jared pulled out his cell and realized that she had only called two hours ago.
Before anyone could say anything, Jared was dialing the precinct’s number and asking for Officer Reynolds. “Hello Officer, this is Jared Padalecki, I just got your message…yes ma’am we can be there in about 30 minutes…okay…we’ll be there shortly. Thank you,” Jared said before hanging up the phone.
“What did she say?” Jensen asked.
“They were able to retrieve the original footage before it was altered for both the second incident and the fire. They think they can catch the guy who did it now.”
~~~J2~~~
“So as you can see, the footage was altered to run a continuous loop until after the incidents occurred. In the first incident, you can clearly see a figure that sneaks up behind Jared and drugs him. And in the case of the fire, there is someone who flees the scene from the kitchen and shortly after that, the fire starts. Based on our analysis’s description, we should be looking for two, possibly three, individuals who all stand around five foot six. One will be slightly bulkier than the others and one looks to be petite so we are assuming female. We are also working under the assumption that all incidents were performed by separate individuals but based on the past phone calls and notes, they are all working together.”
Jared nodded as Officer Reynolds continued to explain what they have uncovered. As he listened, he felt a hand rest gently on his lap. He looked up to see Jensen watching him from out of the corner of his eye. Without a word, he laced their fingers together. Jensen smiled faintly before redirecting his attention to Officer Reynolds. Finally things were starting to look up for Jared. Not only were they getting close to catching the sons of bitches who have been trying hurt him but it seemed like things with Jensen would finally be able to be hashed out. Life was good for Jared.
~~~J2~~~
Life was not good for Jared. Life was not good at all. Once they had gotten back from the police station, Chad decided to make them dinner. It had tasted good doing down but it sure as hell didn’t taste good coming back up. Jared moaned slightly as he clung to the toilet as if it was the only thing keeping him alive. He coughed and felt the bile rush up once more. He was too busy gagging to hear the knock on his bedroom door. By the time he felt like he was back in control of his stomach, there was a damp cloth being pressed to the back of his neck. “Chad’s cooking not agreeing with you Jay?” Jared could only moan in reply. “Shh, it’s okay.”
Jared wanted to ask how Jensen knew he was sick but another wave of nausea hit and he was too busy trying to not throw up a vital organ or something to ask.
“Here try and sip on this, it will help settle your stomach some,” Jensen said, his voice soft. Jared spat into the toilet bowl once before looking up at Jensen and taking the proffered drink. He took a small sip and waiting to see if it would trigger more nausea or not. When his stomach didn’t twist in revolt, he took another tentative sip before managing to ask Jensen why he was there. “I just wanted to check on you. When you didn’t answer the door I came in and heard you vomiting, I put two and two together. Feeling better? Think you can move?” Jared went to stand up and was halfway successful before his body tried to forcefully expel his stomach once more and he ended up dry heaving over the toilet. “Okay, it’s okay. Take deep breathes Jay,” Jensen soothed as he ran a hand across his back.
“’M dying Jen,” he whined as he looked up pathetically.
“Drama queen,” Jensen retorted before he asked Jared if he could stand yet. Between the two of them, they managed to get Jared into his bed with a trashcan next to him. “I’ll be right back Jay okay.” Jared nodded slightly before he allowed his eyes to drift shut. His mouth tasted like shit but he was too worn out to bother trying to move to brush his teeth. A few moments later he felt the bed shift as Jensen came back. “Here Jay, I brought you your toothbrush and stuff. I’m sure you have a nasty taste in your mouth right now,” he said as he helped shift Jared’s weight so he was sitting up enough to brush and then spit into the bowl of water Jensen had also brought.
“Thanks Jen,” he muttered as he snuggled back into the blankets after his mouth tasted less like something died in it. Jensen set the bowl and brush beside him on the table before curling up beside Jared, his fingers absently stroking Jared’s hair.
“Go to sleep Jared, you’ll feel better in the morning,” he said.
“Okay. Night Jen, love you,” Jared replied half awake. Jensen tensed slightly before relaxing and smiling. Why fight it at this point? The police were working a lead and Danneel had already given him the green light so why not?
“Love you too Jay.”
~~~J2~~~
“Ugh did something crawl in my mouth and die last night?” Jared wondered aloud as he blinked his eyes open against the harsh morning light.
“Yeah guess vomiting will do that to ya,” Jensen said from his side. Jared grinned before getting up out of bed and making his way into the bathroom to get rid of the taste in his mouth.
“Feeling any better?” Jensen asked as he wandered in behind Jared, wrapping his arms around Jared’s waist and leaning against his back. Jared nodded before rinsing his mouth out to get rid of the extra toothpaste foam.
“Yeah but not gonna eat Chad’s cooking for a while,” he replied once his mouth was clean. Jensen hummed his agreement into his spine before turning Jared around to kiss him lazily. “Dude, are you even awake right now?” Jared said with a laugh. Typically Jensen was dead to the world until he had a cup of coffee.
“No, but who cares, come back to bed. It’s still early,” Jensen said into the kiss before half-heartedly attempting to drag Jared back to bed. Jared smiled fondly at the older man before reality hit him. This was all too similar to how they would act before Danneel was in the picture. He and Danneel were still married no matter what Jensen said.
“I have to walk Sadie,” he protested as he pulled away from Jensen’s warmth. He couldn’t let himself get caught up in Jensen just yet, not until the divorce was final. Also, he knew he couldn’t stand it if Jensen changed his mind for some reason. It would break him. So for his own sanity, he would wait…no matter how hard it was.
~~~J2~~~
After Jared had all but fled the bathroom this morning, he had decided to go for a run himself. He needed some space to clear his head to try to figure out why Jared had gone from hot to cold so quickly. By the time he had gotten back, Jared was already in the shower and Chad was pouring himself a bowl of cereal. “So what did you do to Jared?” Chad had asked almost instantly once Jensen entered the room.
“I didn’t do anything Chad. I just made a mistake and read into something I shouldn’t have.” Chad frowned and waved his spoon in what was supposed to be a threatening manner at Jensen.
“You hurt him, I’ll hurt you, remember that,” Chad said before resuming his cereal consumption. Jensen nodded with a faint smile.
“I remember Chad,” he replied. Before Chad had the chance to say anything else, Jared walked in, his hair slightly wet and his t-shirt clinging to his torso.
“Hand me a bowl will ya Chad?” Jared asked as he refused to meet Jensen’s eyes. Chad set his own bowl down before reaching up into the cabinet behind him and grabbing a bowl. “Thanks,” Jared added as he rummaged in the pantry for a while.
Jensen tried to catch Jared’s attention but the younger man was resolutely ignoring him as he went about fixing his own breakfast. Jensen knew a lost cause he when saw one. He would just have to talk to Jared later. But regardless of when, Jensen knew they would talk.
~~~J2~~~
Jared spent majority of his day down at the station trying to see if he could recognize any of the potential suspects. Unfortunately, not a single one was familiar. It was disappointing but Officer Reynolds said it was to be expected since he technically still had no recollection of the attacks. Once he got back home, he noticed that it was eerily quiet in the house. “Hello?” he called out as he walked in.
“In here Jay,” Jensen’s voice called back.
“Where is here?” he muttered to himself as he headed to the kitchen. When he didn’t see Jensen, he figured he was in the living room. When he struck out there too, he decided to try the dining room. It would be strange but unless Jensen had learned how to throw his voice it was the only option. Jared had barely stepped into the dining room when he noticed the candles and dinner. “What is this?” he asked, his eyes meeting Jensen’s.
“It’s dinner. Chad took off for a while so we could have the place to ourselves. Listen Jay, I know you are apprehensive to do anything while I’m still with Dani and I want to apologize for this morning. I knew you got freaked out by how I was acting and I apologize. And I am willing to wait as long as you want but I want you to know that Danneel and I are absolutely done. The papers will only make it official. Okay Jay?” Jensen’s eyes never left Jared’s the entire time he spoke. Jared could only nod. He didn’t know what to say. Not only had Jen gone out of his way to make dinner for them but he was apologizing?
“You shouldn’t have to be sorry Jen. I’m the one who took off without saying anything. And you’re right. I am a little scared to do anything when the divorce isn’t final. I’m also scared you might want to go back to Dani…” Jared wasn’t able to finish his thought because before he could, Jensen was pulling him into a tight hug and whispering into his ear that he could never leave him, not now…not ever. Jared let out a shaky breath and hugged Jensen back.
“Now c’mon before dinner gets cold.” The two pulled away and sat down across from each other at the dining room table. Conversation consisted of Jared’s day for the most part but every so often, the topic of them would come up. The more that Jared thought about it, the better the idea sounded. By the end of the meal, Jared and Jensen’s hands were interlocked and neither seemed eager to pull away.
Jensen smiled faintly as he said, “Wanna go get comfy and watch a movie or something?” Jared nodded as he stood up. The two carried the dishes into the kitchen and made quick work of them. After they finished up, Jared grabbed Jensen’s hand and, grinning, led him to the living room.
~~~J2~~~
By the end of the movie, both were tangled together and sound asleep. Chad came back shortly after the credits ended and had to smile at the sight the two made. Jensen’s head was tucked slightly under Jared’s chin and his arms were wrapped loosely around the younger man’s waist. Their legs were interlocking and they both looked at peace. Chad hadn’t seen Jared so relaxed since the whole ordeal had begun. Chad pulled his phone out of his back pocket and took a quick picture of the two before grabbing the blanket off of the chair and gently spreading it out across them. Both men deserved the happiness they found with each other even if they didn’t always realize it. After checking to make sure Sadie was inside, he went about locking the house up for the night. He was setting the security system on the highest setting when he noticed something moving in the backyard. No, make that someone. “Shit,” he whispered to himself before he hit the panic button on the alarm system that would alert the police without letting the intruder know that he/she had been spotted. Silently, he made his way back into the living room, thankful he had already turned off the lights so no one would be able to see him walking around in the house. “Guys wake up,” he hissed as he knelt down beside the two men.
Jared let out a low groan of displeasure but opened his eyes. “What is it Chad?” he asked once he noticed his friend was freaking out ever so slightly.
“The security cameras show that there is someone outside.” Jared sat up a little straighter and nudged Jensen’s shoulder slightly.
“Jen wake up, Chad said someone’s outside.” Jensen blinked sleepily at Jared until the words registered with him and suddenly the sleep was gone.
“I pressed the panic alarm so someone should be responding soon.” All three men sat frozen in the living room, ears straining to hear. Sadie was sitting in the doorway, almost as if she was on guard but knew not to leave the room or make noise.
The sound of Jared’s phone buzzing startled all of them and Jared quickly picked it up off the table. Looking down at it, he quickly read before quietly explaining what it said. “Officer Reynolds and her squad are surrounding the building and have the trespasser cornered. She says to stay put until she calls us.” Jensen and Chad both nodded and Jared was not surprised to feel Jensen’s grip on him tighten. If this person was connected to the attacks in anyway, then it meant that he could finally relax and life could return to normal. And he didn’t want to think about what it meant if they weren’t connected.
~~~J2~~~
Several hours later, all three men were asleep in Jared’s room. Officer Reynolds had informed them that they had caught the trespasser and that they were going to question him thoroughly. She also added that there would be an officer on location all night in case someone else came. After the police had left, they all went to bed. At some point Jensen had managed to find his way into bed with Jared and Sadie. Shortly after that, Chad came in and, after explaining that he was honestly a little freaked out by the events of the evening, ended up on the inflatable mattress. As Jared lay there, he wondered if tonight would be the beginning of the end to all of this or if more was to come. He hoped it wasn’t the latter of the two.
~~~J2~~~
The next few days passed in a blur. The man that had been caught trespassing had admitted to attacking Jared and was willing to name the other two that had orchestrated the other attacks. After the confessions of the other two men, life seemed to be returning to normal. Chad was packing up to leave that afternoon. Jensen had called his lawyer and between Danneel’s and his, the divorce papers were being finalized so they could be signed. Cliff had returned to LA. Life was normal again. Well minus the fact that instead of leaving like everyone else, Jensen had decided to move in with Jared.
“Hey Jay, we are running out of milk. I’m gonna head to the store to get some more. Anything else we need?” Jensen called out as Jared played with Sadie in the backyard.
“Not that I can think of. Check the list on the fridge,” he replied as Sadie placed the ball at his feet.
“I’ll grab dinner while I’m out, anything particular you want?” Jensen asked as he walked outside toward the two.
“Whatever you want,” Jared said as he kissed Jensen’s cheek once he was close enough.
“What I want, I can’t get in the store,” Jensen retorted suggestively. Jared laughed and kissed him on the lips.
“Now what kind of guy do you take me for Ackles? I do not put out until I have been fed, so best get going,” Jared said with a grin. Jensen rolled his eyes before pulling Jared flush against him and kissing him deeply. Jared moaned softly.
“Still want me to go?” Jensen asked, his voice lower than usual. Before Jared could reply, his stomach decided to make its opinion known. Both men laughed as they pulled apart. “Okay, okay, I get it, food first.” Jared nodded with a playful grin. It wasn’t exactly perfect but it was good enough for him.
~~~J2~~~
The persistent knocking on the door woke Jared up from the powernap he had decided to take while Jensen was at the grocery store. He figured it was probably Jensen, arms too full to get his own key out or something. Jared stretched slightly before heading to the door. The person standing on the other side, however, was not Jensen. It was two police officers. “Mr. Padalecki, I’m going to have to ask you to come with us.”
“May I ask why?” Jared asked, his body blocking the entryway into his house. Ever since the attacks, he had been ever so slightly suspicious of anyone he didn’t know.
“We just need you to come with us.” Jared’s heart stopped. He couldn’t put his finger on why but something about the way the officers said that chilled him to the bone.
“Can’t it wait until my partner comes back? I don’t want him to worry about where I am,” Jared said, hesitating.
“I’m sorry sir but Officer Reynolds insists you come with us immediately.” Jared sighed as he grabbed his keys and shit the door behind him. He had a bad feeling about this.
~~~J2~~~
“Mr. Padalecki…Jared, I’m sorry I didn’t come get you myself but I was needed at an incident. Do you mind taking a seat?” Officer Reynolds said as she gestured to the chair. Jared sat down and immediately sat forward on the edge of the seat.
“What is wrong?” he asked. When she didn’t reply, Jared repeated himself, this time his voice somewhat higher than before.
“Remember how we thought originally one of your attackers might have been female?” When Jared nodded, she continued, “Well turns out we were right. One of the three men who attacked you admitted that there was a ring leader who was behind it all. He said she was the reason they were attacking you in the first place. Said her name was Alicia White. Does that name ring any bells?”
“I don’t know anyone by that name, sorry. Guess I’m not much help,” he said as he went to stand up to leave.
“Please wait Jared. That wasn’t the reason I asked you to come down here today.” Officer Reynolds paused and took a deep breath as if steeling herself for something. “There was an incident today down at Donald’s. When we arrived on scene, Ms. White was there and immediately turned herself over to us.”
Jared smiled and said, “That’s great! Looks like this nightmare is finally over then! Thanks for telling me officer.” Once more, he started to leave.
Before he could though, Officer Reynolds spoke once more. This time her voice so quiet, Jared wasn’t sure she said what she had said. He looked up at her and the look on her face told him all he needed to know. He hadn’t misheard. He hadn’t misheard at all.
~~~J2~~~
“Jensen Ackles died at the scene. He died of multiple gunshot wounds. I’m so sorry Jared. Miss White shot him.”
~~~J2~~~
Jared couldn’t believe it. Just that morning Jensen was there. He was flirting and joking and there! Now he was dead? He couldn’t remember sitting back down or hearing another word from Officer Reynolds. He couldn’t remember starting to shake or cry. To be honest, he couldn’t remember much of anything besides those damn words haunting him and the heart-breaking agony he felt. His entire world seemed to collapse in on him and he couldn’t breathe. “I have to see him. Please, let me see him,” he begged as tears streaked down his face. “I have to…” Officer Reynolds nodded and, after wrapping a supportive arm around his waist, helped him walk to her car. She held the door open for him but he honestly couldn’t remember getting in or driving to the hospital. He just could hear those words repeat over and over. “Jensen Ackles died.” He couldn’t remember being led into the hospital or to the room where Jensen was. He just knew that the man in front of him couldn’t be his Jensen. This Jensen was too pale and there were holes in him. Jared’s Jensen wasn’t pale and filled with holes. His Jensen was so full of life and love. This couldn’t be his Jensen. “This isn’t him. It can’t be him, please tell me this isn’t him,” Jared cried as he clung desperately to Officer Reynolds. When she didn’t reply, Jared sank to the floor in a hysterical mess. “Jensen. Jen. Jen. Don’t leave me. We were finally making things work. I need you Jen. You are my everything. Please don’t go. Please don’t leave me. Jen please,” he babbled brokenly as he sobbed. Officer Reynolds crotched beside Jared and helped him to his feet. Jared stood shakily as he slowly made his way to the table. He reached a hand out and the cold flesh that met his touch was a shock. It was just then that it hit Jared. “He’s really dead. This isn’t some joke it is?” He asked his voice empty sounding.
“I wish I could say otherwise Jared but, yes he is really dead. I am so sorry.” He looked almost vacantly at her. The utter sadness he had felt mere moments ago was gone. It was replaced by an empty coldness.
~~~J2~~~
Things were finally working out for them and now Jen was dead. Officer Reynolds had explained to him that the woman who had taken Jensen away from him was an escaped convict who was previously arrested for first degree murder. She was a no one who had taken his everything. The overwhelming feeling of it all was just too much. A fucking nobody.
~~~J2~~~
Reality is a bitch. Jared always knew that. But ever since the love of his life, Jensen, had died, reality hit harder than it had in a very long time. Not only was he now completely alone, the man who he had wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to gone but he was also empty inside for the first time in a long time. Jensen had left him. He used to be so full of life and joy but that ended the moment he heard that his Jen was dead. Now he was a hallow shell of his former self. No he wasn’t even that, it was like Jared had died too that day and now this person who just happened to look like him was left. His friends and family had flown up almost immediately after they found out to support him. Even Jensen’s friends and family had come up to help comfort him. These were people he always used to turn to for support but the one person Jared wanted to have there wasn’t there. He was dead. No amount of support and comfort from these other people could change that fact or help. They all tried so hard to bring back even the slightest hint of a smile. They tried to help but to Jared, it didn’t seem to matter. All he could focus on was the fact that he was alone. Well and truly alone. But unlike before, he knew how to cope with it. He knew exactly how to take away the pain and loneliness.
~~~J2~~~
To my family and friends:
I am sorry but I just can’t take it anymore. My life is meaningless without Jensen and I don’t know how I could ever stand a world without him. I appreciate all you tried to do to help but I knew this is how it would end the moment I saw his cold, lifeless body. The sun no longer shines for me and I am in a place so dark that I know there is no help for me. Please know that I love you all and will be watching over you all. Goodbye.
~ JT
~~~J2~~~
To my Jensen, my love:
I’ll see you soon. I love you.
~ Jay
~~~J2~~~