PART THREE: Looking at the Stars - (J2, R)
When Jared wakes up, he’s as stiff and uncomfortable as he has ever been after a night of sleep sitting upright in a chair. It takes him back to his graduate school days, falling asleep at his desk while writing a paper, and for a moment he’s disoriented, eyes blinking open as he takes in the unfamiliar setting that looks nothing like his apartment back on Earth.
Someone snores and Jared starts. When he turns his head and sees Jensen sleeping in the chair next to him, his chest grows warm. The usually brash, confident captain looks younger, more vulnerable in sleep. His long lashes rest on his pale, freckled cheeks and his plush lips are parted and soft, making Jared want to reach over and trace them with his fingertips.
Or maybe kiss them, just press his own lips against them to see how it feels.
He knows how it feels. He’s already kissed Jensen, or at least been kissed by him, willingly. And it was nice. Very, very nice.
Jensen’s big green eyes open and for a moment they gaze at each other, relaxed and happy except for the little butterflies in Jared’s belly. Then Jensen’s lips turn up in a smile and Jared grins, ducking his head as he blushes.
“Like what you see?” Jensen asks, spoiling the mood.
Jared growls and shakes his head, unbuckling his seat straps so he can stand up and stretch.
“You know the answer to that,” Jared remarks with another shake of his head.
Jensen clucks his tongue. “We should totally take a turn in the bunk,” he says, leering. “The girls can take over the helm for a while.”
“Oh my god,” Jared breathes, rolling his eyes. He waves a hand at the control console. “How much time do we have?”
“Enough,” Jensen says with a smirk, deliberately misunderstanding.
“Okay, stop,” Jared says. “Enough flirting. What’s our ETA at Persium?”
“About twelve hours,” Jensen answers. “We really do have enough time. For everything.”
Jared purses his lips, puts his hands on his waist, determined to conserve at least a semblance of dignity.
“And after that, how much further to Alexandria?”
“Two, three days, tops,” Jensen answers.
“Okay,” Jared nods. “I need to let the University know.”
“You’ll have to wait till we shut down the wormhole,” Jensen reminds him. “Nothing gets in or out till then.”
“Right.”
As if on cue, Danneel and Genevieve step onto the bridge. They look showered and refreshed, and Jared can’t help feeling jealous.
“All right, boys. Your turn.” Danneel puts a hand on the captain’s chair, and Genevieve takes the starboard passenger seat.
“You okay?” Jared asks her.
She nods. “I’ve had worse. Your med kit was well equipped. I’m all healed and good as new.”
“Shoo!” Danneel gestures to Jensen and Jared to leave the bridge. “We’ve got this. Go get showered, changed, eat, and have yourselves some good old-fashioned grateful-to-be-alive sex. Does wonders for your state of mind, I promise.”
“We’re not,” Jared starts to say, but Danneel shakes her head.
“Don’t say it,” she insists, giving him a stern look. “Just do it. Captain’s orders.”
“Yes, sir,” Jensen says, giving Jared a wink as he leads the way down the corridor.
Jared doesn’t really have a choice. He’s not about to disobey a direct order from Danneel. She’s the bossiest person he’s ever met.
“Best sonic shower on a ship this size ever,” Genevieve calls after them.
Jensen chuckles as he leads Jared into his quarters, lets the door slide closed behind them.
Jared’s on him before he can turn around, shoving Jensen into the wall and kissing him hard, hands sliding not-so-gently down his chest to his dick, squeezing.
“Mine.” He growls against Jensen’s mouth as he kisses him. “From now on, nobody else gets this.”
Jensen shivers under his hands, surrenders with everything he’s got.
“Okay.”
“Okay, sir,” Jared corrects.
“Okay, sir,” Jensen repeats, gasping, eyelids fluttering, pliant and supple.
Jared kisses him harder, deeper, messier, hands roaming possessively over his body, squeezing where it counts. Jensen’s dick, his tits, his ass.
Jared kisses down Jensen’s jaw to his neck, sucks a hickey there as Jensen tips his head back and gasps.
“I love you,” Jared hisses against Jensen’s ear, surprising himself.
“I know,” Jensen grits back.
Jared pulls back, takes Jensen’s face in his hands.
“I mean it,” he pants. “If we do this, it’s for keeps. I don’t do flings or one-night stands.”
“Yeah,” Jensen gasps. “Me too.”
“Liar.”
Jensen shakes his head, still caught between Jared’s big hands.
“I mean it, professor,” he insists. “You’re it for me. I knew it from the moment I first saw you.”
Jared stares at him. “How could you know that?”
“I’m a great judge of character,” Jensen says, and Jared remembers Jeff Morgan telling him the same thing. “Plus, you’re gorgeous, if you haven’t noticed. Now, take your clothes off.”
Instead of complying immediately, Jared kisses Jensen again, wraps his arms around him so that they’re slotted together from chest to hip. Jensen’s not a small man. He’s warm and solid. Jared can feel his strength.
They take their time getting undressed, exploring each other’s bodies. Jensen wasn’t lying when he said he was good in bed. He’s sensitive and intuitive, knows what Jared likes and what he needs even before Jared himself knows for sure. Maybe because of his size, Jared’s partners have always expected him to top, to manhandle and take charge.
Somehow, Jensen understands that Jared likes to relinquish control sometimes, doesn’t really like being the leader as much as he’s expected to be.
With his eyes and his mouth and his hands, Jensen makes Jared feel protected, cherished, cared for in a way that isn’t sentimental and fake in the least, despite how little time they’ve known each other. Jensen makes Jared feel safe.
When Jensen’s inside him, pumping his hips and filling the hole in Jared’s heart as well as his body, he feels seen. He doesn’t know how Jensen does it, but somehow he just knows who Jared is. Makes him feel like he fits. Jared feels complete even though he never knew he was empty, never realized there was anything missing.
Afterward, cuddled up under Jensen’s arm with his cheek pressed against the warm, bare skin of Jensen’s hairless chest, Jared lets out a sigh of pure contentment.
Jensen’s arm tightens around him, and Jared can feel him pressing a kiss onto the top of Jared’s head, his hair.
“Call me Jared,” Jared says.
“Okay,” Jensen agrees, voice rumbling against Jared’s cheek. “Jared. My Jaybird.”
Jared barks out a laugh. Nobody ever gave him a nickname before. Even when he was a kid, skinny and serious, nobody ever came up with anything to call him besides Jared, much less such an unlikely nickname as a bird.
Jared likes it, likes feeling delicate and fragile and free as a bird.
They doze for a while, then get up and take turns showering, then sharing a meal together, which leads to kissing which leads to more sex. When Jensen kisses down his body to his cock, swallows it down without hesitation, Jared sees stars. One of them bursts behind his eyes as he comes.
They sleep soundly after that second round, awakening only at the familiar shuddering of the wormhole capacitor shutting down.
//**//**//
Thousands of light years from home, Jared’s found the man he wants to spend the rest of his life with.
He tries not to think too much about it as he showers and shaves, dresses in a clean shirt, vest, and trousers, and makes his way down to the bridge to join the rest of the crew.
Barely five days after meeting Jensen, Jared already thinks of himself as Jensen’s crew mate. He’s no longer just a passenger. He’s not sure when that happened, exactly. Probably while they were running from sentries on Olympia.
Maybe while they were hiding out on the asteroid after Station 6.
Jared does not believe in love at first sight. He categorically refuses to believe it could happen to him.
“So what’s the plan?”
Jensen’s back in the captain’s seat, flanked by Danneel and Genevieve, and Jared experiences a hot flash of jealousy when he realizes he’s the only one of the four of them who’s never learned to fly.
“My contact on Persium will be waiting for us on the station,” Jensen says. “We just received permission to land.”
“Your contact,” Jared repeats. “Is he somebody you trust?”
Jensen and Danneel exchange glances, and Jared gets the feeling he’s missing something, especially when Jensen answers without looking at him.
“I trust him enough,” Jensen says. “But just to be sure, Danneel and I will shuttle the supplies down to the mining colony ourselves. You and Gen can wait here, or on the station if you like.”
“What?” Jared’s shocked. “No way! We should stay together. What if you get ambushed like what happened on Olympia?”
Jensen lifts his eyes then, gaze steady and earnest.
“Then I need you to take care of my baby,” he says. “If anything happens to us, Genevieve can get you where you need to go. She can get you home.”
“Uh-uh.” Jared shakes his head. “I’m not letting you leave us, Captain.”
“You don’t have a choice, Professor,” Jensen says, following Jared’s lead in resorting to their professional titles. “I’m in command here. You’re just a civilian.”
Jared’s flummoxed. He can’t bear the thought of being separated, not now, after all they’ve been through. After what’s just happened between them.
“Why can’t you leave the supplies on the station?”
Jensen shakes his head. “Those people down there on the colony are hungry and desperate. I can’t let that stand.”
“Why not?” Jared demands. “Why do you care so much?”
Jensen presses his lips together before answering.
“My family was just like them,” he says finally. “When I see the faces of those kids down there, I think of my little sister, about how I couldn’t protect her.”
Jared’s chest aches. He glances at Danneel, who looks away, and Jared realizes she knows all about Jensen’s history. Jensen’s already confided in her, probably years ago, when they were together.
He squats down next to Jensen’s chair so that he’s no longer looming over the shorter man. Jensen blinks, then stares at him, green eyes wide and startled.
“Let me come with you,” Jared pleads, schooling his features into an expression of care and concern. “Please.”
“Oh, Jaybird, don’t ask me that,” Jensen says. He reaches out to touch Jared’s hair, tucks it behind his ear.
Jared leans into the touch, closing his eyes briefly before opening them to look up at Jensen again.
“Please.”
Jensen shakes his head, giving Jared a soft smile. “You’ll be fine here. Safe. It’s too dangerous for you down there.”
“Then it’s too dangerous for you,” Jared insists. “I need to be with you. I need to see what you do.”
Jensen shoots a helpless look at Danneel, and though Jared can’t see her face, he’s pretty sure she’s shaking her head.
“Oh man, somebody’s got it bad,” Genevieve comments with a smirk.
Jensen gestures at Jared’s face. “I mean, how am I supposed to resist that?”
“You aren’t,” Danneel says. “Go. I’ll stay here with Gen.”
“No, I need you to come with us,” Jensen says. “I need backup from somebody who knows how to handle a weapon.”
And just like that, Jared joins the shuttle team.
On the space station orbiting Persium, Jared meets Tahmoh Penikett, the tall, handsome station master, who sends some of his lackeys to move the Impala’s cargo onto a loaner shuttle.
“The foreman knows you’re coming,” Penikett tells Jensen.
“Is Benedict still in charge?” Jensen asks.
“He and his husband, yeah,” Penikett says.
“Good people,” he tells Danneel and Jared. “That’s good for us.”
“Wait, you’ve been here before?” Jared stares.
Jensen shrugs. “I try to get out here at least once or twice a year,” he says. “You’ll see what I mean when we get down there. These people really need our help.”
Jared shakes his head. Jensen isn’t at all the man Jared thought he was when they first met. He still can’t quite reconcile the cocky, arrogant Lothario who yelled at him that first day with this Robin Hood who steals from the rich to give to the poor. He really means it when he tells Jensen that he needs to see the colony. He needs to better understand the man he’s falling in love with.
Jared gives Genevieve a little wave as he takes his seat on the little four-person shuttle behind the two pilots.
Someday, I’m going to get Jensen to teach me to fly, he thinks.
It takes a little over an hour to reach the surface of the planet. It’s dark and cloud-covered, thick with soot. The air smells vile despite the brisk breeze that makes Jared shiver and pull his jacket close around him. He’s grateful to Jensen for suggesting he wear it.
“Captain Ackles!” a voice hails them as they disembark on the landing pad. A small, bearded man with bright blue eyes lined in sorrow greets them, and Jared thinks he’s never met someone who seemed to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders until now.
“Mr. Benedict,” Jensen greets the man with a warm handshake. He introduces his companions as Benedict leads them out of the cold and into a small port office.
“Did you run into any problems getting here?” Benedict asks after radioing the port’s dock workers to unload the shuttle. Besides the radio, Jared notices an ancient telephone and desktop computer on the office’s only desk. The room itself is small and cramped, and a layer of soot lies atop the ancient filing cabinets. The entire room looks like something out of a movie set in the late 20th century.
“We had a little issue with some folks on Olympia,” Jensen says. “Nothing we couldn’t handle.”
“Well, I’m glad you were able to visit in person,” Benedict says. “Rich and I hope you’ll be our guests for dinner, and of course our home is open to you all if you can stay the night.”
“Thank you, but we’ve just got enough time for a quick tour, if that’s okay,” Jensen says. “Professor Padalecki has business on Alexandria, and we’re overdue there, so we’ll be pressing on without a night’s stay, I’m afraid.”
Benedict nods. “Understood. Well. If you’ll come this way, then?”
Jensen, Jared, and Danneel follow the foreman out the door at the back of the office and into a high-ceilinged space that resembles an ancient aircraft hangar. There’s even a shuttlecraft in the middle of the floor, with a couple of technicians running systems checks to make the shuttle space-worthy.
Benedict ignores all of that as he leads the group across the spacious room to a nondescript door on the opposite wall. Jared’s not even sure it’s a door. Just a crack in the wall that opens when Benedict touches it.
Heart pounding, Jared follows the others through the opening, into a semi-dark corridor that leads down, down, down, twisting and winding until Jared’s not sure which direction they’re going in.
When they reach a door at the end, Benedict pauses.
“Since your time’s so limited, I figured we’d just visit the living quarters,” he says.
Jensen nods, jaw clenching, and Jared braces himself.
The door opens on a scene of poverty and deprivation unlike anything Jared’s ever seen before. The room isn’t a room as such, it’s more of a cave, but it’s teeming with people, and it takes Jared a moment to process what he’s seeing. Adults and children huddle against the walls, sleeping or clutching each other. Their clothes are ragged and worn at best. Some of them are nearly naked, covered in dirty blankets or just shivering in the cold. Almost no one wears shoes. Long, lanky hair falls over faces smudged with soot and grime that might be years old.
As Benedict leads his guests into the cave, or whatever the space can be called, some of the inhabitants of the room look up, the whites of their eyes shining in the semi-darkness. Others are obviously sleeping or unconscious, too exhausted to even acknowledge the presence of well-dressed visitors.
Jared quickly realizes that there are children in the room. Most of them are huddled with adults, presumably their parents, but he understands instinctively that that isn’t necessarily the case. Kids have latched onto adults who are not biologically related because they need the protection, and some adults have provided that.
Some, Jared suspects, have taken advantage of that.
“After my dad left, my mom and sister and I ended up in a place a lot like this,” Jensen says.
“Where do they eat?” Jared asks, horrified. “This looks like a sleeping room.”
“This is just for resting between shifts in the mine,” Benedict says. “There are bunks further down for real sleep, not that most of them get that very often. They eat in the mess hall beyond that.”
Jensen kneels down in front of a woman with a little girl. He’s holding out a package of dried fruit, which the woman takes with grubby fingers. She tears open the package with her teeth and takes a bite before sharing it with her daughter.
“When they eat,” Jensen adds. “Which isn’t even daily, sometimes.”
“The mining company doesn’t provide enough,” Benedict explains. “They expect us to make it last, but sometimes it doesn’t. The dirty little secret is, that’s deliberate. It keeps the workers weak so they can’t rebel or strike for more food.”
“Do they get paid?” Jared asks.
“Nominally,” Benedict says. “So nobody can accuse the company of using slave labor. And they get paid in company credits, which can only be used to purchase items at the company store. No food, of course, just clothes and blankets and the occasional bottle of whisky or beer.”
“Who runs the store?”
Benedict shakes his head. “It’s all automated. There are very few human overseers, which is how we get away with distributing the food Captain Ackles brings us.”
“Why do they stay here? Why don’t they leave?”
Benedict chuckles, low and dark. “How would they pay for transport? Where would they go? We’re light years from anywhere out here. These people live their short, miserable lives out right here, just as they’ve done for centuries. Nobody ever gets out. The workforce replaces itself every generation, so nobody ever comes in, either.”
“The company makes money from their labor,” Jared says, bile bubbling up from his stomach. “They’re mining niracium, right? For wormhole capacitors?”
Benedict nods. “Persium is one of five planets in the galaxy where niracium can be found, as far as we know.”
“So we fly around the galaxy while the people who make our transportation possible in the first place live like this.” Jared clenches his jaw. “It’s not right.”
Benedict shrugs. “Life is unfair, Professor,” he says. “But you and I don’t make the rules, do we?”
Jared turns to Danneel. “You knew about this?”
Danneel nods. “It’s what we’re fighting for every day,” she says. “Nobody should live like this.”
“That’s for sure,” Jared agrees, turning to Jensen. “You lived like this?”
“It was a different colony, not as bad,” Jensen says. “We had our own home, humble as it was. But yeah. It was a mining colony where the work was hard and the food was scarce. The worst part of it, though, was the Raiders.”
“Raiders?”
Jensen nods. “Raiders came through on the regular and just took people, mostly to sell to Slavers.” He gives Jared a hard look, but there’s vulnerability there, too. “You already knew that part.”
Jared nods. He doesn’t want to think too hard about Jensen’s years in the brothel on Kendor. And this isn’t the time to get personal about Jensen’s lost family. He feels like a fool for being so naive, for not knowing that places like this existed, that human beings lived like this. He’s never thought of himself as particularly privileged, but now he can see that he is. For the first time in his life, Jared doubts himself.
How can he pretend that his trivial pursuits of archeological artifacts have any real value compared to the suffering of these people?
Jensen pats his back, and Jared starts.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Jensen says gently. “Especially if you never really thought about it before.”
Jared shakes his head. “I had no idea.”
“Hey, it’s not as bad as it looks,” Jensen says. “At least these people don’t have to worry about Raiders, all the way out here. Nobody swoops in to kidnap their kids.”
“Oh, that makes me feel so much better!”
Jensen gives him a look that’s half pain, half exasperation.
“You can’t imagine, Jay, that’s all I’m saying,” he says, voice low and quiet.
Jared winces, chastened. “No, of course not.”
They’re all quiet on their trek back up the corridor, out through the hangar and Benedict’s office, and out onto the windy launch pad. All the cargo has been removed from the shuttle, to be distributed equally to the families below ground.
“Enough to feed everyone on the colony for a month,” Benedict says as he shakes Jensen’s hand. “We are all grateful.”
Benedict’s husband, Rich, joins them on the launch pad to say goodbye. He hugs Jensen and Danneel, shakes Jared’s hand warmly.
“You’re always welcome here,” he says kindly. “Maybe next time you can stay for dinner.”
On the shuttle, Jensen radios Tahmoh Penikett to let him know they’re on their way.
“That’s weird.” He frowns.
“What?” Jared asks.
“No reply.” Jensen repeats his message. This time, the reply comes immediately.
“Everything seems to be in order,” Danneel comments.
“Just to be sure, message Genevieve for me,” Jensen says.
“She says everything’s fine,” Danneel says a moment later. “‘Peachy.’”
Danneel frowns. “She’s giving me a warning. ‘Peachy’ is a word we use when things are NOT good.”
Jensen sets his jaw. “Okay,” he says. “I think we can assume something’s wrong. Here’s the plan. Jared, listen up. You need to stay on board the shuttle until I tell you, you got me?”
Jared nods. His heart pounds and his palms sweat. It’s not just the threat of whatever awaits them on the space station. He’s also terrified of losing Jensen, just as he’s starting to find out how much he likes him.
“Please don’t die,” he says, voice small and high in his ears.
Jensen turns in his seat to look at Jared, his expression serious, almost stern.
“It’s going to be fine, Jay, I promise,” he says. “Danneel and I know what we’re doing.”
Jared represses the flash of jealousy he feels as Jensen and Danneel exchange quick glances. He can’t compete with their camaraderie, the trust born of shared trauma, serving together under pressure, of violence and the threat of imminent death.
There’s nothing Jared can offer that can possibly compete with what Jensen shared with Danneel. He should just give up now, while his relationship with Jensen is just a pleasant one-night stand.
Except, now that Jared knows that Jensen’s a genuine hero, the kind of person who puts himself at personal risk for the sake of suffering, poverty-stricken families, it’s not that easy.
//**//**//
Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse. The landing bay is quiet and empty, so Jensen and Danneel get out with their guns drawn, move cautiously toward the Impala. Jared watches from the shuttle portal as a red-haired woman emerges from the ship, followed by two lackeys, one of whom has a gun to Genevieve’s head.
“Alaina.” Jensen greets the red-haired woman, who gives him a tight smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.
“Jensen. Just the man I’ve been looking for.”
Three more lackeys appear from behind Jensen and Danneel, guns drawn so that they’re completely surrounded and outnumbered.
Jared can do nothing but watch. He doesn’t even have a gun.
“We won’t harm your companions as long as you come with us,” Alaina says, smirking. “We’ll even leave your sweet little boy-toy alone.”
She looks up, meets Jared’s eyes in the portal, and he backs away, heart pounding.
“Put down the gun, Jensen,” Alaina warns. “Both of you.”
Danneel puts her gun down first, and although her back is to him, Jared can see the tension in her shoulders. He can see the stress on Genevieve’s face. These people mean business. They will kill Genevieve to get what they want.
Jensen puts his hands up, then lowers his weapon to the ground. Jared gasps as the flanking lackeys move in, grab Jensen’s arms and cuff them in front of him.
“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Alaina signals to the lackeys holding Genevieve.
“Now, nobody do anything stupid,” she says as her lackeys gather the guns from the floor. Three of them remain in position, guns raised, to prevent Danneel or Genevieve from “doing anything stupid,” while Alaina and two others escort Jensen to their waiting ship.
“This is strictly business. Legal business.”
“Bullshit,” Danneel spits out.
“Where are you taking him?” Jared demands. He can’t help himself, doesn’t care if they shoot him.
Alaina shoots a smug smile at him, letting Jensen see.
“Jensen stole something from someone very powerful,” she says. “He wants it back.”
“Food?” Jared yells. “You’re arresting him for stealing food?”
Jensen shoots him a warning look, but Jared holds his ground.
“Oh you sweet summer child,” Alaina purrs. “Not food, no. Himself.”
Two lackeys hustle Jensen aboard their ship while Alaina and the three remaining lackeys keep their guns trained on Jensen’s companions until the last possible moment. The bounty ship’s engines start before the hatch slides closed. The companions watch helplessly as the ship lifts off, leaving them stunned and momentarily in shock.
Then Danneel turns to the Impala.
“Come on,” she yells to Jared. “Let’s see if we can follow them.”
Genevieve shakes her head. “They disabled the capacitor,” she says. “First thing they did when they came on board.”
“Fuck.” Danneel pauses, then turns to Jared. “But we know where he’s going, don’t we?”
Kendor. The word screams across Jared’s mind like a flashing billboard.
Danneel gives him a grim smile. “Nice work, professor.”
“But.” Jared’s confused. “Jeff Morgan bought out his contract.”
“Apparently, somebody doesn’t think so,” Danneel says. She turns to Genevieve. “Time to steal a ship.”
“But.” Jared frowns, more confused. “We can’t leave the Impala here. She’s Jensen’s baby.”
Danneel huffs out a breath.
“They’re taking Jensen back to Kendor to be a sex slave, Professor,” she reminds him. “A sex slave who escaped what was coming to him. You think we’ve got a second to spare on his incapacitated ship?”
She waves a hand at the Impala. “She’ll be here when we get back. With a pissed Jensen, because of course he’ll be mad as hell that we left his baby just to rescue him.”
She rolls her eyes. “Any questions?”
Jared shakes his head.
“Good. Now, come on.”
Jared follows as they cross the landing bay, still eerily quiet and empty, and step into the only other starship available. Jared sits down and straps himself in as Danneel takes the captain’s seat and Genevieve heads into the engine room to check on the ship’s condition.
“Dead, of course,” she reports when she rejoins Jared and Danneel on the bridge. “I’m sure they’re having a laugh right now.”
Danneel takes a deep breath, opens a communications channel to Rob Benedict.
The next niracium pick-up is due the following week sometime, so catching a ride isn’t an option.
“I know somebody we should call,” Jared says.
When Jeff Morgan hears what’s happened, he’s furious.
“It’s that fuckin’ asshole Heyerdahl,” he tells Jared via video comm. “He was a brutal, sadistic fucker eighteen years ago, and he’s probably fuckin’ worse now. Obsessed with Jensen. Fucker.”
Jeff wants to jump on the next transport to Kendor, but he’s three weeks away even at maximum warp.
“He might kill Jensen by then,” Jeff growls, shaking his head. “I got somebody I can fuckin’ send. Name’s Ty. Ty Olsson. He’s in your sector. Former Star Corp Elite, like Jensen. He owes me a fuckin’ favor. I’ll have him swing by to pick you all up. Should be able to make it in a few hours.”
Jared lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me until you fuckin’ get Jensen back,” Jeff snaps. “And I hope you fuckin’ see what kind of man he is, by now.”
“I do,” Jared assures him.
PART FOUR
Someone snores and Jared starts. When he turns his head and sees Jensen sleeping in the chair next to him, his chest grows warm. The usually brash, confident captain looks younger, more vulnerable in sleep. His long lashes rest on his pale, freckled cheeks and his plush lips are parted and soft, making Jared want to reach over and trace them with his fingertips.
Or maybe kiss them, just press his own lips against them to see how it feels.
He knows how it feels. He’s already kissed Jensen, or at least been kissed by him, willingly. And it was nice. Very, very nice.
Jensen’s big green eyes open and for a moment they gaze at each other, relaxed and happy except for the little butterflies in Jared’s belly. Then Jensen’s lips turn up in a smile and Jared grins, ducking his head as he blushes.
“Like what you see?” Jensen asks, spoiling the mood.
Jared growls and shakes his head, unbuckling his seat straps so he can stand up and stretch.
“You know the answer to that,” Jared remarks with another shake of his head.
Jensen clucks his tongue. “We should totally take a turn in the bunk,” he says, leering. “The girls can take over the helm for a while.”
“Oh my god,” Jared breathes, rolling his eyes. He waves a hand at the control console. “How much time do we have?”
“Enough,” Jensen says with a smirk, deliberately misunderstanding.
“Okay, stop,” Jared says. “Enough flirting. What’s our ETA at Persium?”
“About twelve hours,” Jensen answers. “We really do have enough time. For everything.”
Jared purses his lips, puts his hands on his waist, determined to conserve at least a semblance of dignity.
“And after that, how much further to Alexandria?”
“Two, three days, tops,” Jensen answers.
“Okay,” Jared nods. “I need to let the University know.”
“You’ll have to wait till we shut down the wormhole,” Jensen reminds him. “Nothing gets in or out till then.”
“Right.”
As if on cue, Danneel and Genevieve step onto the bridge. They look showered and refreshed, and Jared can’t help feeling jealous.
“All right, boys. Your turn.” Danneel puts a hand on the captain’s chair, and Genevieve takes the starboard passenger seat.
“You okay?” Jared asks her.
She nods. “I’ve had worse. Your med kit was well equipped. I’m all healed and good as new.”
“Shoo!” Danneel gestures to Jensen and Jared to leave the bridge. “We’ve got this. Go get showered, changed, eat, and have yourselves some good old-fashioned grateful-to-be-alive sex. Does wonders for your state of mind, I promise.”
“We’re not,” Jared starts to say, but Danneel shakes her head.
“Don’t say it,” she insists, giving him a stern look. “Just do it. Captain’s orders.”
“Yes, sir,” Jensen says, giving Jared a wink as he leads the way down the corridor.
Jared doesn’t really have a choice. He’s not about to disobey a direct order from Danneel. She’s the bossiest person he’s ever met.
“Best sonic shower on a ship this size ever,” Genevieve calls after them.
Jensen chuckles as he leads Jared into his quarters, lets the door slide closed behind them.
Jared’s on him before he can turn around, shoving Jensen into the wall and kissing him hard, hands sliding not-so-gently down his chest to his dick, squeezing.
“Mine.” He growls against Jensen’s mouth as he kisses him. “From now on, nobody else gets this.”
Jensen shivers under his hands, surrenders with everything he’s got.
“Okay.”
“Okay, sir,” Jared corrects.
“Okay, sir,” Jensen repeats, gasping, eyelids fluttering, pliant and supple.
Jared kisses him harder, deeper, messier, hands roaming possessively over his body, squeezing where it counts. Jensen’s dick, his tits, his ass.
Jared kisses down Jensen’s jaw to his neck, sucks a hickey there as Jensen tips his head back and gasps.
“I love you,” Jared hisses against Jensen’s ear, surprising himself.
“I know,” Jensen grits back.
Jared pulls back, takes Jensen’s face in his hands.
“I mean it,” he pants. “If we do this, it’s for keeps. I don’t do flings or one-night stands.”
“Yeah,” Jensen gasps. “Me too.”
“Liar.”
Jensen shakes his head, still caught between Jared’s big hands.
“I mean it, professor,” he insists. “You’re it for me. I knew it from the moment I first saw you.”
Jared stares at him. “How could you know that?”
“I’m a great judge of character,” Jensen says, and Jared remembers Jeff Morgan telling him the same thing. “Plus, you’re gorgeous, if you haven’t noticed. Now, take your clothes off.”
Instead of complying immediately, Jared kisses Jensen again, wraps his arms around him so that they’re slotted together from chest to hip. Jensen’s not a small man. He’s warm and solid. Jared can feel his strength.
They take their time getting undressed, exploring each other’s bodies. Jensen wasn’t lying when he said he was good in bed. He’s sensitive and intuitive, knows what Jared likes and what he needs even before Jared himself knows for sure. Maybe because of his size, Jared’s partners have always expected him to top, to manhandle and take charge.
Somehow, Jensen understands that Jared likes to relinquish control sometimes, doesn’t really like being the leader as much as he’s expected to be.
With his eyes and his mouth and his hands, Jensen makes Jared feel protected, cherished, cared for in a way that isn’t sentimental and fake in the least, despite how little time they’ve known each other. Jensen makes Jared feel safe.
When Jensen’s inside him, pumping his hips and filling the hole in Jared’s heart as well as his body, he feels seen. He doesn’t know how Jensen does it, but somehow he just knows who Jared is. Makes him feel like he fits. Jared feels complete even though he never knew he was empty, never realized there was anything missing.
Afterward, cuddled up under Jensen’s arm with his cheek pressed against the warm, bare skin of Jensen’s hairless chest, Jared lets out a sigh of pure contentment.
Jensen’s arm tightens around him, and Jared can feel him pressing a kiss onto the top of Jared’s head, his hair.
“Call me Jared,” Jared says.
“Okay,” Jensen agrees, voice rumbling against Jared’s cheek. “Jared. My Jaybird.”
Jared barks out a laugh. Nobody ever gave him a nickname before. Even when he was a kid, skinny and serious, nobody ever came up with anything to call him besides Jared, much less such an unlikely nickname as a bird.
Jared likes it, likes feeling delicate and fragile and free as a bird.
They doze for a while, then get up and take turns showering, then sharing a meal together, which leads to kissing which leads to more sex. When Jensen kisses down his body to his cock, swallows it down without hesitation, Jared sees stars. One of them bursts behind his eyes as he comes.
They sleep soundly after that second round, awakening only at the familiar shuddering of the wormhole capacitor shutting down.
//**//**//
Thousands of light years from home, Jared’s found the man he wants to spend the rest of his life with.
He tries not to think too much about it as he showers and shaves, dresses in a clean shirt, vest, and trousers, and makes his way down to the bridge to join the rest of the crew.
Barely five days after meeting Jensen, Jared already thinks of himself as Jensen’s crew mate. He’s no longer just a passenger. He’s not sure when that happened, exactly. Probably while they were running from sentries on Olympia.
Maybe while they were hiding out on the asteroid after Station 6.
Jared does not believe in love at first sight. He categorically refuses to believe it could happen to him.
“So what’s the plan?”
Jensen’s back in the captain’s seat, flanked by Danneel and Genevieve, and Jared experiences a hot flash of jealousy when he realizes he’s the only one of the four of them who’s never learned to fly.
“My contact on Persium will be waiting for us on the station,” Jensen says. “We just received permission to land.”
“Your contact,” Jared repeats. “Is he somebody you trust?”
Jensen and Danneel exchange glances, and Jared gets the feeling he’s missing something, especially when Jensen answers without looking at him.
“I trust him enough,” Jensen says. “But just to be sure, Danneel and I will shuttle the supplies down to the mining colony ourselves. You and Gen can wait here, or on the station if you like.”
“What?” Jared’s shocked. “No way! We should stay together. What if you get ambushed like what happened on Olympia?”
Jensen lifts his eyes then, gaze steady and earnest.
“Then I need you to take care of my baby,” he says. “If anything happens to us, Genevieve can get you where you need to go. She can get you home.”
“Uh-uh.” Jared shakes his head. “I’m not letting you leave us, Captain.”
“You don’t have a choice, Professor,” Jensen says, following Jared’s lead in resorting to their professional titles. “I’m in command here. You’re just a civilian.”
Jared’s flummoxed. He can’t bear the thought of being separated, not now, after all they’ve been through. After what’s just happened between them.
“Why can’t you leave the supplies on the station?”
Jensen shakes his head. “Those people down there on the colony are hungry and desperate. I can’t let that stand.”
“Why not?” Jared demands. “Why do you care so much?”
Jensen presses his lips together before answering.
“My family was just like them,” he says finally. “When I see the faces of those kids down there, I think of my little sister, about how I couldn’t protect her.”
Jared’s chest aches. He glances at Danneel, who looks away, and Jared realizes she knows all about Jensen’s history. Jensen’s already confided in her, probably years ago, when they were together.
He squats down next to Jensen’s chair so that he’s no longer looming over the shorter man. Jensen blinks, then stares at him, green eyes wide and startled.
“Let me come with you,” Jared pleads, schooling his features into an expression of care and concern. “Please.”
“Oh, Jaybird, don’t ask me that,” Jensen says. He reaches out to touch Jared’s hair, tucks it behind his ear.
Jared leans into the touch, closing his eyes briefly before opening them to look up at Jensen again.
“Please.”
Jensen shakes his head, giving Jared a soft smile. “You’ll be fine here. Safe. It’s too dangerous for you down there.”
“Then it’s too dangerous for you,” Jared insists. “I need to be with you. I need to see what you do.”
Jensen shoots a helpless look at Danneel, and though Jared can’t see her face, he’s pretty sure she’s shaking her head.
“Oh man, somebody’s got it bad,” Genevieve comments with a smirk.
Jensen gestures at Jared’s face. “I mean, how am I supposed to resist that?”
“You aren’t,” Danneel says. “Go. I’ll stay here with Gen.”
“No, I need you to come with us,” Jensen says. “I need backup from somebody who knows how to handle a weapon.”
And just like that, Jared joins the shuttle team.
On the space station orbiting Persium, Jared meets Tahmoh Penikett, the tall, handsome station master, who sends some of his lackeys to move the Impala’s cargo onto a loaner shuttle.
“The foreman knows you’re coming,” Penikett tells Jensen.
“Is Benedict still in charge?” Jensen asks.
“He and his husband, yeah,” Penikett says.
“Good people,” he tells Danneel and Jared. “That’s good for us.”
“Wait, you’ve been here before?” Jared stares.
Jensen shrugs. “I try to get out here at least once or twice a year,” he says. “You’ll see what I mean when we get down there. These people really need our help.”
Jared shakes his head. Jensen isn’t at all the man Jared thought he was when they first met. He still can’t quite reconcile the cocky, arrogant Lothario who yelled at him that first day with this Robin Hood who steals from the rich to give to the poor. He really means it when he tells Jensen that he needs to see the colony. He needs to better understand the man he’s falling in love with.
Jared gives Genevieve a little wave as he takes his seat on the little four-person shuttle behind the two pilots.
Someday, I’m going to get Jensen to teach me to fly, he thinks.
It takes a little over an hour to reach the surface of the planet. It’s dark and cloud-covered, thick with soot. The air smells vile despite the brisk breeze that makes Jared shiver and pull his jacket close around him. He’s grateful to Jensen for suggesting he wear it.
“Captain Ackles!” a voice hails them as they disembark on the landing pad. A small, bearded man with bright blue eyes lined in sorrow greets them, and Jared thinks he’s never met someone who seemed to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders until now.
“Mr. Benedict,” Jensen greets the man with a warm handshake. He introduces his companions as Benedict leads them out of the cold and into a small port office.
“Did you run into any problems getting here?” Benedict asks after radioing the port’s dock workers to unload the shuttle. Besides the radio, Jared notices an ancient telephone and desktop computer on the office’s only desk. The room itself is small and cramped, and a layer of soot lies atop the ancient filing cabinets. The entire room looks like something out of a movie set in the late 20th century.
“We had a little issue with some folks on Olympia,” Jensen says. “Nothing we couldn’t handle.”
“Well, I’m glad you were able to visit in person,” Benedict says. “Rich and I hope you’ll be our guests for dinner, and of course our home is open to you all if you can stay the night.”
“Thank you, but we’ve just got enough time for a quick tour, if that’s okay,” Jensen says. “Professor Padalecki has business on Alexandria, and we’re overdue there, so we’ll be pressing on without a night’s stay, I’m afraid.”
Benedict nods. “Understood. Well. If you’ll come this way, then?”
Jensen, Jared, and Danneel follow the foreman out the door at the back of the office and into a high-ceilinged space that resembles an ancient aircraft hangar. There’s even a shuttlecraft in the middle of the floor, with a couple of technicians running systems checks to make the shuttle space-worthy.
Benedict ignores all of that as he leads the group across the spacious room to a nondescript door on the opposite wall. Jared’s not even sure it’s a door. Just a crack in the wall that opens when Benedict touches it.
Heart pounding, Jared follows the others through the opening, into a semi-dark corridor that leads down, down, down, twisting and winding until Jared’s not sure which direction they’re going in.
When they reach a door at the end, Benedict pauses.
“Since your time’s so limited, I figured we’d just visit the living quarters,” he says.
Jensen nods, jaw clenching, and Jared braces himself.
The door opens on a scene of poverty and deprivation unlike anything Jared’s ever seen before. The room isn’t a room as such, it’s more of a cave, but it’s teeming with people, and it takes Jared a moment to process what he’s seeing. Adults and children huddle against the walls, sleeping or clutching each other. Their clothes are ragged and worn at best. Some of them are nearly naked, covered in dirty blankets or just shivering in the cold. Almost no one wears shoes. Long, lanky hair falls over faces smudged with soot and grime that might be years old.
As Benedict leads his guests into the cave, or whatever the space can be called, some of the inhabitants of the room look up, the whites of their eyes shining in the semi-darkness. Others are obviously sleeping or unconscious, too exhausted to even acknowledge the presence of well-dressed visitors.
Jared quickly realizes that there are children in the room. Most of them are huddled with adults, presumably their parents, but he understands instinctively that that isn’t necessarily the case. Kids have latched onto adults who are not biologically related because they need the protection, and some adults have provided that.
Some, Jared suspects, have taken advantage of that.
“After my dad left, my mom and sister and I ended up in a place a lot like this,” Jensen says.
“Where do they eat?” Jared asks, horrified. “This looks like a sleeping room.”
“This is just for resting between shifts in the mine,” Benedict says. “There are bunks further down for real sleep, not that most of them get that very often. They eat in the mess hall beyond that.”
Jensen kneels down in front of a woman with a little girl. He’s holding out a package of dried fruit, which the woman takes with grubby fingers. She tears open the package with her teeth and takes a bite before sharing it with her daughter.
“When they eat,” Jensen adds. “Which isn’t even daily, sometimes.”
“The mining company doesn’t provide enough,” Benedict explains. “They expect us to make it last, but sometimes it doesn’t. The dirty little secret is, that’s deliberate. It keeps the workers weak so they can’t rebel or strike for more food.”
“Do they get paid?” Jared asks.
“Nominally,” Benedict says. “So nobody can accuse the company of using slave labor. And they get paid in company credits, which can only be used to purchase items at the company store. No food, of course, just clothes and blankets and the occasional bottle of whisky or beer.”
“Who runs the store?”
Benedict shakes his head. “It’s all automated. There are very few human overseers, which is how we get away with distributing the food Captain Ackles brings us.”
“Why do they stay here? Why don’t they leave?”
Benedict chuckles, low and dark. “How would they pay for transport? Where would they go? We’re light years from anywhere out here. These people live their short, miserable lives out right here, just as they’ve done for centuries. Nobody ever gets out. The workforce replaces itself every generation, so nobody ever comes in, either.”
“The company makes money from their labor,” Jared says, bile bubbling up from his stomach. “They’re mining niracium, right? For wormhole capacitors?”
Benedict nods. “Persium is one of five planets in the galaxy where niracium can be found, as far as we know.”
“So we fly around the galaxy while the people who make our transportation possible in the first place live like this.” Jared clenches his jaw. “It’s not right.”
Benedict shrugs. “Life is unfair, Professor,” he says. “But you and I don’t make the rules, do we?”
Jared turns to Danneel. “You knew about this?”
Danneel nods. “It’s what we’re fighting for every day,” she says. “Nobody should live like this.”
“That’s for sure,” Jared agrees, turning to Jensen. “You lived like this?”
“It was a different colony, not as bad,” Jensen says. “We had our own home, humble as it was. But yeah. It was a mining colony where the work was hard and the food was scarce. The worst part of it, though, was the Raiders.”
“Raiders?”
Jensen nods. “Raiders came through on the regular and just took people, mostly to sell to Slavers.” He gives Jared a hard look, but there’s vulnerability there, too. “You already knew that part.”
Jared nods. He doesn’t want to think too hard about Jensen’s years in the brothel on Kendor. And this isn’t the time to get personal about Jensen’s lost family. He feels like a fool for being so naive, for not knowing that places like this existed, that human beings lived like this. He’s never thought of himself as particularly privileged, but now he can see that he is. For the first time in his life, Jared doubts himself.
How can he pretend that his trivial pursuits of archeological artifacts have any real value compared to the suffering of these people?
Jensen pats his back, and Jared starts.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Jensen says gently. “Especially if you never really thought about it before.”
Jared shakes his head. “I had no idea.”
“Hey, it’s not as bad as it looks,” Jensen says. “At least these people don’t have to worry about Raiders, all the way out here. Nobody swoops in to kidnap their kids.”
“Oh, that makes me feel so much better!”
Jensen gives him a look that’s half pain, half exasperation.
“You can’t imagine, Jay, that’s all I’m saying,” he says, voice low and quiet.
Jared winces, chastened. “No, of course not.”
They’re all quiet on their trek back up the corridor, out through the hangar and Benedict’s office, and out onto the windy launch pad. All the cargo has been removed from the shuttle, to be distributed equally to the families below ground.
“Enough to feed everyone on the colony for a month,” Benedict says as he shakes Jensen’s hand. “We are all grateful.”
Benedict’s husband, Rich, joins them on the launch pad to say goodbye. He hugs Jensen and Danneel, shakes Jared’s hand warmly.
“You’re always welcome here,” he says kindly. “Maybe next time you can stay for dinner.”
On the shuttle, Jensen radios Tahmoh Penikett to let him know they’re on their way.
“That’s weird.” He frowns.
“What?” Jared asks.
“No reply.” Jensen repeats his message. This time, the reply comes immediately.
“Everything seems to be in order,” Danneel comments.
“Just to be sure, message Genevieve for me,” Jensen says.
“She says everything’s fine,” Danneel says a moment later. “‘Peachy.’”
Danneel frowns. “She’s giving me a warning. ‘Peachy’ is a word we use when things are NOT good.”
Jensen sets his jaw. “Okay,” he says. “I think we can assume something’s wrong. Here’s the plan. Jared, listen up. You need to stay on board the shuttle until I tell you, you got me?”
Jared nods. His heart pounds and his palms sweat. It’s not just the threat of whatever awaits them on the space station. He’s also terrified of losing Jensen, just as he’s starting to find out how much he likes him.
“Please don’t die,” he says, voice small and high in his ears.
Jensen turns in his seat to look at Jared, his expression serious, almost stern.
“It’s going to be fine, Jay, I promise,” he says. “Danneel and I know what we’re doing.”
Jared represses the flash of jealousy he feels as Jensen and Danneel exchange quick glances. He can’t compete with their camaraderie, the trust born of shared trauma, serving together under pressure, of violence and the threat of imminent death.
There’s nothing Jared can offer that can possibly compete with what Jensen shared with Danneel. He should just give up now, while his relationship with Jensen is just a pleasant one-night stand.
Except, now that Jared knows that Jensen’s a genuine hero, the kind of person who puts himself at personal risk for the sake of suffering, poverty-stricken families, it’s not that easy.
//**//**//
Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse. The landing bay is quiet and empty, so Jensen and Danneel get out with their guns drawn, move cautiously toward the Impala. Jared watches from the shuttle portal as a red-haired woman emerges from the ship, followed by two lackeys, one of whom has a gun to Genevieve’s head.
“Alaina.” Jensen greets the red-haired woman, who gives him a tight smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.
“Jensen. Just the man I’ve been looking for.”
Three more lackeys appear from behind Jensen and Danneel, guns drawn so that they’re completely surrounded and outnumbered.
Jared can do nothing but watch. He doesn’t even have a gun.
“We won’t harm your companions as long as you come with us,” Alaina says, smirking. “We’ll even leave your sweet little boy-toy alone.”
She looks up, meets Jared’s eyes in the portal, and he backs away, heart pounding.
“Put down the gun, Jensen,” Alaina warns. “Both of you.”
Danneel puts her gun down first, and although her back is to him, Jared can see the tension in her shoulders. He can see the stress on Genevieve’s face. These people mean business. They will kill Genevieve to get what they want.
Jensen puts his hands up, then lowers his weapon to the ground. Jared gasps as the flanking lackeys move in, grab Jensen’s arms and cuff them in front of him.
“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Alaina signals to the lackeys holding Genevieve.
“Now, nobody do anything stupid,” she says as her lackeys gather the guns from the floor. Three of them remain in position, guns raised, to prevent Danneel or Genevieve from “doing anything stupid,” while Alaina and two others escort Jensen to their waiting ship.
“This is strictly business. Legal business.”
“Bullshit,” Danneel spits out.
“Where are you taking him?” Jared demands. He can’t help himself, doesn’t care if they shoot him.
Alaina shoots a smug smile at him, letting Jensen see.
“Jensen stole something from someone very powerful,” she says. “He wants it back.”
“Food?” Jared yells. “You’re arresting him for stealing food?”
Jensen shoots him a warning look, but Jared holds his ground.
“Oh you sweet summer child,” Alaina purrs. “Not food, no. Himself.”
Two lackeys hustle Jensen aboard their ship while Alaina and the three remaining lackeys keep their guns trained on Jensen’s companions until the last possible moment. The bounty ship’s engines start before the hatch slides closed. The companions watch helplessly as the ship lifts off, leaving them stunned and momentarily in shock.
Then Danneel turns to the Impala.
“Come on,” she yells to Jared. “Let’s see if we can follow them.”
Genevieve shakes her head. “They disabled the capacitor,” she says. “First thing they did when they came on board.”
“Fuck.” Danneel pauses, then turns to Jared. “But we know where he’s going, don’t we?”
Kendor. The word screams across Jared’s mind like a flashing billboard.
Danneel gives him a grim smile. “Nice work, professor.”
“But.” Jared’s confused. “Jeff Morgan bought out his contract.”
“Apparently, somebody doesn’t think so,” Danneel says. She turns to Genevieve. “Time to steal a ship.”
“But.” Jared frowns, more confused. “We can’t leave the Impala here. She’s Jensen’s baby.”
Danneel huffs out a breath.
“They’re taking Jensen back to Kendor to be a sex slave, Professor,” she reminds him. “A sex slave who escaped what was coming to him. You think we’ve got a second to spare on his incapacitated ship?”
She waves a hand at the Impala. “She’ll be here when we get back. With a pissed Jensen, because of course he’ll be mad as hell that we left his baby just to rescue him.”
She rolls her eyes. “Any questions?”
Jared shakes his head.
“Good. Now, come on.”
Jared follows as they cross the landing bay, still eerily quiet and empty, and step into the only other starship available. Jared sits down and straps himself in as Danneel takes the captain’s seat and Genevieve heads into the engine room to check on the ship’s condition.
“Dead, of course,” she reports when she rejoins Jared and Danneel on the bridge. “I’m sure they’re having a laugh right now.”
Danneel takes a deep breath, opens a communications channel to Rob Benedict.
The next niracium pick-up is due the following week sometime, so catching a ride isn’t an option.
“I know somebody we should call,” Jared says.
When Jeff Morgan hears what’s happened, he’s furious.
“It’s that fuckin’ asshole Heyerdahl,” he tells Jared via video comm. “He was a brutal, sadistic fucker eighteen years ago, and he’s probably fuckin’ worse now. Obsessed with Jensen. Fucker.”
Jeff wants to jump on the next transport to Kendor, but he’s three weeks away even at maximum warp.
“He might kill Jensen by then,” Jeff growls, shaking his head. “I got somebody I can fuckin’ send. Name’s Ty. Ty Olsson. He’s in your sector. Former Star Corp Elite, like Jensen. He owes me a fuckin’ favor. I’ll have him swing by to pick you all up. Should be able to make it in a few hours.”
Jared lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me until you fuckin’ get Jensen back,” Jeff snaps. “And I hope you fuckin’ see what kind of man he is, by now.”
“I do,” Jared assures him.
PART FOUR