Fic - Jensen/Jared - The Past Never Stays There - chapter 6/14
Title : The Past Never Stays There - Chapter 6/14
Author : angels3 aka Angela
Beta : munimula - who is the best beta ever and any mistakes left are so mine, and there will probably be a plenty as I had to rework some things after she sent it back to me. I hope I got all the mistakes as I had to do this twice. Don't ask you don't want to know
Word Count : 9198
Pairing : Jensen/Jared
Supporting Characters : Eric, Kim, Sera, Mike, Tom, Chris, Steve, Chad, Kylan (who is a figmant of my imagination
Disclaimers : They don't belong to me because if they did.............................
Warnings : RPS M/M sex , not this chapter though. This chapter is very dialouge heavy. Sorry no action this one but there will be some in seven.
Summary : This is the sequel to When Things Come Crashing Down. It starts immediately where that story left off.
You know that person that Chris never had the name for? Well he may soon get it. Jensen and Jared have to deal with someone from Jensen's past.
Chapters - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12a 12b 13a 13b 14
Kylan
PDF for The Past Never Stays There
"Jared? What's wrong?" Chris asked.
"Is Steve with you?"
"Yes. Now tell me what the fuck is going on?" Chris growled.
Jared winced at the sound. "We're at the hospital."
"Hospital!" Chris shouted, nearly deafening him.
"Jensen passed out, he's all right though," Jared said in a rush, trying to calm the fear vibrating across the phone line.
He heard muffled talking, followed by a sounded like a brief tug of war, then Steve's voice filled his ear.
"Jared, the airport shuttle is still here. They're going to run us over there, so we'll be there in just a few minutes. Now tell me what happened." Steve said as calmly as he could at hearing Jensen and hospital in the same sentence.
"We had a long weekend, so we were moving Jensen's things. He sent me on ahead to pick up the dogs." Jared took a deep breath, trying to stop the tremble in his voice.
"I swear Steve, I didn't even think about it. The further away I drove the worse the feeling in my stomach got. I tried to call and he wouldn't answer, and you know how he is about his cell phone. I turned around and went back." Jared took a deep breath, so he could continue, nerves making him trip over his words. His stomach clenched remembering the fear climbing his thoat when didn't know what was happening to Jensen.
"Jared, just clam down and tell me what went on," Steve soothed.
"Okay," Jared took another deep breath.
"I called Tom, I was hoping he was at home because he would have been closer, but him and Mike were at the set. When I got there Kylan had Jensen by the wrist. Jensen was trying to get him to let go without it getting violent. Kylan finally released him when he saw me, and not long after that Mike and Tom showed up, he left right after. I thought things were okay, next thing I know, Jensen's passed out." Jared finished in a rush, trying to still the fear that retelling the events had brought back.
"So, what did the doctor's say?" Steve asked.
Jared cringed when Steve told Chris to pipe down so he could hear. Chris was not only going to kill him for not telling him about Kylan, and leaving Jensen alone when he knew better, but Chris was going to make him a eunich for not realizing Jensen was as sick as he was. Not to mention he was going to have Steve and Chris' breakup on his head too. Jared knew he was being just a tad melodramatic, but damn, it had been a shitty day.
"He has pneumonia and bronchitis, plus he's dehydrated, that's why he passed out, well that and exhaustion. The doctor wants him to stay for 48 hours." Jared explained, he knew he was rambling but he couldn't seem to stop.
" All right, we'll be there any minute. I'll fill Chris in on everything, and then we'll go from there."
Jared sighed in relief, glad that he wasn't the one doing the explaining, at least he could do his explaing after the big fallout. Jared closed Jensen's phone and returned to the room. releived to see Dr. Patterson had waited until he came back so Jensen wouldn't be left alone.
"I just told Jensen that we'd remove the IV with the fluids tomorrow morning, but I want to keep him on the antibiotics intravenously until the day I release him. It's a lot more potent that way, and when you go home, I'll give you a prescription that needs to be filled." The doctor said, ignoring the scowl Jensen was giving him.
"Is there anything you can give him for the cough? He's not been sleeping well at all, because he's been coughing so hard."
"Hey, I'm right here," Jensen growled, waving his hand in the air.
"Yes, you are." Jared replied and went right back to ignoring him, so he could pay attention to the doctor.
The weak snarl coming from behind him just made Jared smile. He could picture Jensen's exact look. Arms crossed over his chest, well maybe not because his IV's would get in the way, but he was sure Jensen would find a way to look properly put out. His eyebrows would be furrowed, and eyes narrowed in irritation. His lips would be pursed in a pout, which always made Jared want to suck that bottom lip into his mouth and bite it. Oh yeah, Jensen would look totally fuckable and he really needed to find another train of thought before the doctor thought better of letting him stay the night with his sick boyfriend.
"I'm going to be giving him the same cough medicine he's been taking, just increasing the dosage, so he can actually get some rest," the doctor said with an amused look on his face.
Dr. Patterson looked past Jared to Jensen, "The detective I told you about is going to come by tomorrow morning. I'll stop in while he's here and give him a copy of the pictures we took."
"What pictures?" Jensen sputtered, looking between Jared and the doctor
"I'm going to leave that one to you," the doctor patted Jared's arm.
"Thanks ever so much," Jared responded, sarcasm heavy in his voice.
"Don't mention it. Jensen, I'll see you in the morning. You can tell me how awesome I am. Not only do you get the good shit, but you get the magic cough medicine too." Dr. Patterson shot Jared a grin and was out the door.
"Jared, what pictures?" Jensen growled.
Jared slowly turned around, steeling himself for the little seen but greatly feared Ackles temper.
"The doctor asked permission to take pictures of your wrist in case you decided to press charges."
"Oh, and I bet you just signed right on that dotted line, didn't you Jay?"
"Actually it was a solid line, but yes I signed it."
"You do realize if a tabloid gets hold of that they're going to have a field day?"
"Jensen, I couldn't give a rats ass what the tabloids say or do, not that I think they'll get the pictures. All I care about is making sure you're okay, and we have whatever we need to keep you that way."
Jensen sighed loudly, irritation still etched in the rigid posture, but his anger had drained away, unable to hold on to it in the face of Jared's need to protect him.
"Fine but you don't get to sign anything else. I'm revoking your signing privileges, I'm going to give them to Tom instead." Jensen huffed.
"Sure you are Jen," Jared agreed, crossing the room to sit on the end of the bed. "So the doctor talked you into reporting it?"
"Yes and no," Jensen answered, still giving Jared the evil eye.
" Explain please."
"Yes, because he swore on his grandma's grave this guy would keep it quiet. No, because you went and made sure Kylan knew who, and what you were to me. So if this will keep him away from you then I'll do it."
"Jensen, I don't need protecting."
"Yeah, that's what I said too and look what happened," Jensen responded.
Jared flinched at the quietly spoken words, and dropped his eyes to the blanket he'd been picking at.
"Hey, Jared what's wrong?" Jensen asked softly, leaning forward and taking Jared's hand in his. He had seen the flinch and Jared looked like someone had stolen one of their dogs.
"You weren't supposed to get hurt, not again. He wasn't supposed to be able to get anywhere near you. I tried to cover all the bases, and then I'm the one who left you, so he could get his chance."
Jared's voice thick with self reproach. He continued to pick at the blanket covering Jensen's legs.
"Jared. Hey look, at me."
Jared didn't want to see Jensen's face. He knew it would be full of forgiveness and love, something he didn't feel like he deserved any of at the moment.
"I'm sorry Jen. I fucked up, I didn't even think about it when I left," he said mournfully, lifting his eyes to finally look at Jensen.
"Jared, none of this is your fault. Jesus... Kylan is a freak. I never should have gotten involved with him. If it's anybody's fault it's mine." Jensen said, squeezing Jared's hand and smiling at him.
Jared turned his hand over so he could wrap his fingers in Jensen's solid grip.
"There's no way you could know Kylan was a psycho, dominant asshole. Last time I checked, you didn't walk on water, contrary to the fans popular opinion, so you're not the all knowing. You couldn't have known." Jared refuted.
"How about we call it a draw and try to figure out how to get rid of him?" Jensen asked, shooting for a compromise.
"So exactly what did you do anyway? I know you never really left me alone. Did you do something else?"
"Promise you won't get mad at me?" Jared begged.
"Jay, I think I've met my quota for getting angry tonight. I can't be angry at you for trying to protect me."
"Um...." Jared stalled.
"Jared, I swear I'm not going to be mad."
Jared took a deep breath letting it out slowly, he looked at Jensen waiting patiently. There was no way he was getting out of this, he decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and tell Jensen everything.
"I googled Kylan so I could see what he looked like, then I took the picture to Eric and asked him to make sure the guy never made it on the set. When we went out with Mike and Tom, one of us always stayed with you, and you already know you didn't get far from my sight. Well, until today that is." Jared said, feeling the need to say what the nasty little voice in his head had been shouting.
"Jared, I'm warning you, if you don't stop that shit I'm going to get pissed. I've already told you it's not your fault." a grin spread across Jensen's face. "I was kind of wondering why all of a sudden I had company when I went to the bathroom."
"Well if I'd been the one always going with you then the trips would have been much longer." Jared quipped.
"Yes, but it would have been a lot more fun than having Mike in there singing just to hear himself echo. So is this there anything else I need to know about?"
"No, that's pretty much it. Oh!" Jared stopped.
"What?" Jensen asked at the sudden outburst.
"I told Steve," Jared answered quietly.
"You told Steve what?" Jensen asked, confused by Jared's guilty expression.
"You told him everything? Oh Jesus, this is going to be fun. He didn't tell Chris did he?"
"No, and that's another thing." Jared cringed, moving out of range of flailing limbs. "Chris and Steve should be here any minute."
"What? Why did you tell them I was in the hospital Jared? They've spent enough time with their lives on hold because of me."
"I didn't, I swear, or I didn't until they called and said they were standing on our front porch. There wasn't much else I could do except tell them the truth," Jared explained in a rush.
Jensen relaxed a little with the knowledge that his friends hadn't dropped everything and flown out to baby sit him, but he still grimaced at the thought of not being able to mask just how badly he felt.
"Shit!" Jensen moaned.
"Yeah, that's what I said. Steve was going to explain about Kylan on the way over here so I have a feeling things are going to be tense when they finally show up."
"Hmm give me a few minutes alone with Chris when they get here, I'll take care of it. I'm sorry I got upset, I just don't want them interrupting everything their doing to come take care of me," Jensen said, squeezing Jared's hand again.
"I know Jen, but they just want to be there when you need them. You don't have to do everything on your own. It doesn't make you any less of a person or any less independent to ask for help. Wouldn't you want to be there when something happens to me or one of our friends? Do you think I'm weak when I need help or when I'm sick?"
"No, but..."
"No buts, it's part of being with someone. Love is great but we both know it takes more than love. It takes respect, communication and compromise, and I think we do a damn good job of all three, even though we still need to work on that communication thing some more." Jared finished, leaning forward and placing a kiss on Jensen's forehead. He lowered his head to rest against Jensen's.
"We just have to remember it's hard work, something that's worth it always is, and we are worth it." Jared said, moving down to place a gentle kiss on Jensen's lips, before he sat back.
"I know it's worth it, I just hate when my shit bleeds over into everybody's life," Jensen explained.
"Well I'm sure Steve and Chris didn't see it that way anymore than I do," Jensen sighed, leaning back into the pillows. The cough medicine the nurse had brought starting to make him groggy.
Jared watched Jensen battle to keep his eyes open. When it had been a few minutes and his eyelids didn't flicker open, Jared stood up and made his way to the door. He wanted to make sure Chris and Steve didn't burst in and wake him up. Jared had told the nurses station after talking to Steve, that there were two stressed and possibly frantic men coming to see Jensen, so they were already expected.
He stepped out of the room closing the door behind him, leaning against it, taking a deep breath. Jared shut his eyes, relaxing for just a minute letting the day fall away, he'd been furious when he saw Kylan with his hand on Jensen and then terrified when Jensen passed out. He'd been in a state of high alert for hours, and he was crashing both physically and mentally. When he opened them again he was met by the piercing blue glare of Christian Kane.
"Shit man! Don't do that! You almost gave me a stroke," Jared exclaimed, clutching his hand to his chest.
"Good," Chris growled. "If you keep shit like this from me again you'll have more to worry about than a stroke, are we clear?"
"Yeah, crystal," Jared answered, nodding his head. He wasn't going to make excuses, and he was going to give Chris time to see Jensen and cool down before he talked to him.
Jared knew when he made the decision to follow Steve's advice, there were going to be ruffled feathers, but if it kept Jensen safe and kept their friend out of jail, he was willing to face a few pissed people, even Chris.
"Be quiet when you go in, he just fell asleep," Jared cautioned as he stepped away from the door.
He received a murderous glare as Chris bypassed him and walked into the room.
"Damn," Jared breathed out.
"It'll be all right, he just needs to see that Jensen is okay with his own eyes. He'll start calming down after that." Steve said, patting Jared on the arm.
"I hope so, Jensen said to give him a few minutes with Chris, so when he wakes up, we can go get some food."
"Did the doctor say anything else about his condition?" Steve asked.
"No, but he did manage to get Jensen to agree about reporting it. The doctor knows this detective and he's going to come by tomorrow to take Jensen's statement and get the pictures the doctor made so they can keep them as part of the case."
"What pictures?"
"The one's the doctor took of the bruises...." Jared trailed off.
"What bruises?"
"I didn't tell you about the bruises did I?" Jared backed up a little just in case Steve decided he wanted to throw a punch.
"No, you neglected to tell me that part and Chris is in there discovering them for himself." Steve sighed.
"I told you Kylan had him by the wrist. I didn't know until later how hard he must have been holding on. The doctor even asked me about them before he'd tell me anything. I think he was worried about Jensen being in an abusive relationship, which he was, just not with me." Jared finished.
"Son of a bitch, Chris is going to rip him to shreds."
"Yeah, he's not the only one," Jared mumbled.
Jared held the door open for Steve, hanging back to give him a chance to do his own visual assessment of Jensen. Chris was sitting in the chair beside the bed, watching the machine measuring Jensen's heart beat. He looked over when the door opened, worry etched in his face.
"His blood pressure is still a little low and his heart rate is a little high." Chris said quietly.
"The doctor said his blood pressure will stabilize once he's fully hydrated again. The heart rate is probably the medicine, but we'll ask the next time the nurse comes in. It must not be too high, or they'd be in here right now." Jared replied.
"He get these from Kylan?" Chris asked, nodding his head at the bruises.
"Yeah, I didn't know he was holding on so tight, or I would have tore his arm off, but Jensen didn't want to start anything. He doesn't mind going at it, he's just not going to be the one to start it."
"Yes I know. What goods is teaching the boy to fight dirty if he's not going to use it," Chris huffed.
"I'm sure if he thought he needed it, he wouldn't hesitate," Steve cut in, sitting down next to Chris.
"Don't think I'm not still pissed at you for keeping me in the dark," Chris informed Steve and Jared.
"Oh, we had no doubt of that," Steve assured.
They sat and talked quietly for the next several hours about the happenings in their lives. Steve told Jared how the rest of his tour was, Chris talked about Steve joining him at the tail end of his. Chris was of the opinion he always sounded better when Steve was there, Steve, of course, said it wasn't true because he always sounded great. When Jensen finally started stirring Chris and Steve had dozed off, the flight and stress finally catching up with them. Jared moved around to the head of the bed so Jensen would be able to see him when he woke up. He hated the look of disorientation Jensen always had when they weren't at home and Jensen would start awake and look around wide eyed. There shouldn't ever be a time that Jensen looked like that as far as he was concerned.
When Jensen finally blinked awake, his lips curved into a small smile, his sight filling with Jared smiling down at him.
"So, that cough medicine is awesome isn't it?" Jared asked.
"I'm definitely going to have to add a few more puffs of air to Dr. Patterson's ego, I'm afraid." Jensen acknowledged.
"Oh that'll make his day. Chris and Steve are here now," Jared said nodding towards the sleeping pair.
Jensen turned his head and saw their friends sleeping in some of the most awkward positions he had ever seen them in. He couldn't stop himself from smiling at the sight. When he looked back at Jared he was ginning as well, dimples on full display. Jensen lifted his head off the pillow asking for a kiss, one that Jared gladly gifted him with.
"So how bad was it?" Jensen asked, needing to know how much damage control he had ahead of him.
"Not good, he pretty much threatened to kill me if I ever left him in the dark again. He's not touching Steve either which doesn't make me feel any better, since I was the one that called and dumped it on Steve's plate." Jared sighed, running his hands through messy hair.
"I'll talk to Chris. It'll be okay, he just needs time to calm down and think things through."
"Well it looks like you're going to get your chance soon," Jared whispered, as Chris shifted around, trying to find a more comfortable position.
"You haven't seen some of the places I've seen him crash in. We've got at least a couple of hours before he's back in the land of the living. How about coming up here and keeping me company?"
"There's no way we'll both fit up there," Jared whispered.
"Come up here and we'll see," Jensen patted the bed.
Jared sighed, looking doubtfully at the bed, Jensen moved to the side and Jared crawled up onto the bed with him, careful not to jar the IV. It was a tight fit with two large men, but necessity is the mother of invention or in their case improvisation, both needing to feel the other. Jensen scooted down until he could rest his head on Jared's chest, and Jared could put his arm around him. Twin sighs of contentment escaped their lips as they settled down to get some much needed sleep. Jared decided he didn't mind being wrong at all.
***************************************************************************
Three hours later, Chris woke with a knot in his neck that he wasn't sure would ever unwind and Steve drooling on his shoulder. He rolled his eyes and pushed Steve's head up enough to get his arm around Steve's back and pull him in closer to his side. His eyes traveled around the room looking for Jared, finally settling on the bed where he found both men wrapped around each other asleep. Chris stretched his legs out trying to remind them what blood flow was. Steve grunted as his pillow shifted beneath him but quieted quickly when Chris ran his fingers through Steve's hair. He let the quiet soothe his frayed nerves, the beep and whoosh of the machines a backdrop of monotony that had him staring off into space, no real thoughts forming, just a mind numbing void.
A nurse came in a half an hour later to change the empty bags and give Jensen more cough medicine, the rustle of plastic and clinking of metal effectively waking everyone not already up. Jared was sitting on the end of the bed looking like a five year old that had been rousted from sleep in the middle of the night, his hair plastered to his head on one side, crease marks running the length of his cheek where it had been resting against Jensen crumpled shirt. He wasn't fully awake yet, his eyes kept drooping and he'd reach up to rub at them, struggling for coherency.
Steve was in a similar state, blinking sluggishy at the nurse as he watched her go about her duties. Chris had pulled back into himself when Steve woke up, not ready to forgive what he felt was a betrayal. It hadn't been a lie really, but it was a secret, and it stung that Steve hadn't trusted him. The nurse finished up and told Jensen the doctor would be by to see him in a couple of hours and that if he needed anything to just hit the call button and she'd be right in. Jared's sleepy, dazed look changed to a grumpy scowl as the nurse left in a swish of support shoes.
"If he needs anything, he won't have to push the call button," Jared mimicked in a high, sarcastic voice.
Chris shot Jared a surprised look and Jensen almost choked on the water he'd been drinking.
"Jay?" Jensen asked when he finally stopped coughing.
"Don't you Jay me, you know what she was hinting at."
"She just caught you draped all over me! How could she miss the, I'm gay part." Jensen asked exasperated.
"You know they think they can turn us back." Jared's voice had that ' duh' quality to it.
"Oh dear God. Steve please go feed him, he's hallucinating," Jensen begged.
Steve shuffled to his feet. He leaned down and kissed the top of Chris' head, grabbing Jared by the arm and pulling him to the door. He was still shaking his head as Jared continued to mumble about buttons and stupid nurses when the door snicked shut.
Jensen looked over at Chris who had settled back in the chair, arms crossed over his chest, forehead creased in a scowl. Jensen knew this wasn't going to be a fun conversation, but he also knew there was no way he was going to let Chris act like an ass when he would have done the same things that Steve and Jared had done. He just had to remind Chris of that without getting his head chewed off.
"So what's got you so pissy?" Jensen asked, settling back into the pillows and focusing on Chris again.
"I don't think this is a good time or place to be having this conversation. How about you tell me about this Kylan prick," Chris countered.
Jensen decided the best thing to do was give Chris a little before asking for something in return. Jensen had learned over the years how to navigate the minefield that was Christian Kane. "Not to much to tell, just another mistake in a long line of mistakes."
"More to it than that." Chris grunted.
"No not really, he was just a bigger asshole than the others."
"Why didn't you ever mention him, or better yet, why didn't you say something about the three days you spent in the hospital after he beat the shit out of you?"
Jensen shifted in the bed and tried to get more comfortable. "Yeah not my finest hour, but how did you know I was in the hospital for three days?" He opted to answer the hospital part of the question, hoping Chris wouldn't bring up why he didn't tell him again.
Chris snorted, his voice bitter. "Steve decided his time was better spent digging for answers instead of filling me in on what was going on."
Jensen knew the other shoe was about to drop. He hadn't told Jared because ultimately nothing had happened, and it was something he'd hoped no one would find out, but if Steve had been digging, then they already knew.
"How about the fact that he tried to sexually assault you while you were dazed from the blow to the head?" Chris asked in almost a whisper, eyes pinning Jensen to the bed.
"Because it was a mute point Chris, he didn't succeed. I broke his kneecap and then his jaw. There wasn't any reason for any of ya'll to know that."
Chris looked at him through bloodshot eyes. Jensen could see the fear, relief, and self-recrimination pass over Chris' face, everything he'd tried to keep his friends from feeling, by not telling them.
"How is he not in jail right now? How the hell is he here and not being somebody's bitch in the shower room?"
"He got probation, physical therapy, and a one way ticket out of the country. Canada's not the U.S. Chris, he can still come here. Why he's waited five years I don't know, maybe he was doing time somewhere else or maybe he's been torturing someone other than me."
"Why are you so fucking calm about this?"
"What am I going to do Chris? Get hysterical? Fall all to pieces? Shit man, what good’s that going to do? You want me to get mad? I've already done that it didn't help. You think I'm not scared? I am, I'm not stupid. The guy is seriously off his rocker, I don't want you and Steve anywhere near me with him around. Shit, Jared pretty much waved a red flag in his face with great big letters saying come get me. Hell, fucking yea I'm scared, but I'm doing everything I can. For God's sake, Jared's done everything but lock me in the house and refuse to let me out, which I'm sure he's going to insist on now." Jensen wound down, as he was overcome by a coughing fit.
Chris stood up quickly and handed him the glass of water sitting on the table. His had hovered over the call button but Jensen shook his head and grabbed at Chris' hand. He waited as (until) Jensen finished it and leaned back into the pillow again. Chris sat back in the chair, kneading his temples where a gradual throb had been building.
"You remember when we were at that bar in Tennessee, the one where Steve was playing for two or three nights?" Jensen asked.
"How could I forget, you broke a couple of knuckles on that dude's face," Chris smirked.
"I wouldn't have had to if you'd have stayed out of the Tequila bottle. I saw him follow you to the bathroom. What was I supposed to do? You could hardly stand up by yourself, and I knew what he wanted, he'd been watching you all night."
"I still could have taken him," Chris grumbled.
"I'm sure," Jensen snorted. "Would that have been before or after he bent you over the sink you were shoved up against when I came in?"
"You do know, I know exactly what you're doing, right?" Chris asked.
Jensen just hummed an agreement. "I believe you made me swear not to tell Steve. Why was that? Do you remember?"
"You know why, but you’re not going to shut up until I say it are you?" Chris accused, glaring at Jensen.
"Nope." Jensen agreed with a great big grin.
"Fine, I didn't want him to mess up his set."
"And...."
"I didn't want him getting in a fight I couldn't back him up in. Didn't matter anyway, he found out," Chris huffed.
"Not because I told him. He does have eyes. He saw you putting them away, and if I knew the guy was watching you all night you can bet your ass Steve knew it too. He was getting ready to drop his guitar and go in there after you, that's why I went. We came out and the guy never did, coupled with your split lip and my busted knuckles it didn't take a rocket scientist to know what happened."
Chris turned his head to glare at the wall.
"I'm sure Steve was going to tell you man, he just didn't want to do it when he wasn't there to back you up and he didn't have all the information he needed. You know how he is about being prepared."
Chris rolled his eyes sighing because he knew exactly how Steve was. That was just one of the reasons he loved the man.
"Do I need to remind you of the time that chick was chasing Steve? She went to every event, all his shows, and made sure she got photos and autographs at every one." Jensen said around a yawn, snuggling even further down into the pillows.
"That bitch had issues!" Chris exclaimed.
"Yes, she was a little unstable. She thought her and Steve were soul mates or something, right?"
"Yeah, they were destined to be together because their planets and stars aligned or some shit like that. I don't know man she was just wacked."
"What did you do?" Jensen asked.
"You know what I did," Chris sighed. He knew he was cornered and there was no escape until Jensen made his point. Damn if he didn’t just hate Jensen's big brain sometimes.
"Yes, I do, but I want you to tell me."
"I hired a bodyguard so that if I couldn't be there he'd be safe. I may have cancelled a few gigs," Chris said grudgingly.
"A few? Try almost half a tour."
Chris just shrugged, refusing to look at Jensen.
"And...."
"You do know I hate when you do this shit right?" Chris whined.
Jensen just continued to stare at him until he sighed again and gave up.
"I didn't tell you. I didn't want you anywhere near us in case she went super nova."
"Would you do it again?"
"You know I would, damn it!"
"Why?"
"Because Steve gives good head and if something did happen I wanted to make sure you weren't around so I'd have another dick on standby," Chris snarked.
Jensen folded his arms across his chest and waited.
"I swear I don't know why I even like you, you’re an ass. I did it because I'd do anything to keep him safe, and I wouldn't tell you again because you’re like my brother, and I didn't want you anywhere near that shit. Hell, if I'd have been able to find a way for Steve to have disappeared I'd have done that too," Chris finished, exasperated. He slouched down in his seat, pointedly ignoring the sunny smile Jensen was aiming his way.
That's how Jared and Steve found them a few minutes later when they came back bearing food. Jared looked at Chris sitting in the chair pouting and then over at Jensen grinning from ear to ear. He carefully edged his way to the bed and sat down next to Jensen. Steve, however, walked right over to Chris and plopped down beside him. He took Chris' hand in his and brought it to his lips, kissing across his knuckles.
"I was going to tell you. I just wanted to know what we were walking into first."
"Yeah, well maybe I'd like to know what we're walking into too," Chris grumped.
"That's just it, you wouldn't have walked. You'd have run and then dived in head first, and as much as I love Jensen, there's no way I'm going to risk losing you," Steve said, leaning over and kissing Chris gently.
There was a soft knock on the door before it opened and the nurse from before brought in towels and soap because Jensen had asked if he could shower. She placed the supplies on the end of the bed and told him he could shower at any time as long as he had help in the room. If not, he was to call the nurses station and one of them would be in to help. Jared scowled as the door closed, heat spiraling through his veins.
"I just bet you would be right in to help," Jared mumbled under his breath.
"Wow!" Steve exlcaimed.
Chris was a little stunned. He just sat there blinking at Jared for a minute. "You know I'm damn happy he doesn't have Sam's powers," Chris told Steve in a mock whisper.
Jared looked over at their friends a confused look on his face. "What?"
Jensen was trying his best not to laugh. He stifled a giggle and took one of Jared's hands in his.
"Jared you look like you're about to blow a gasket. You do realize you could break her in half if she tried anything," Jensen said.
"It's not funny. This is the second time in less than..." Jared stopped and looked at his watch, "Thirty minutes, she's tried to get in your pants, with me standing right here." Jared finished on a growl.
"She's just doing her job. She's supposed to be nice," Jensen said, still trying not to laugh. He pulled on Jared's hand until he leaned down. "By the way, I'm not wearing any pants," he whispered in reference to the hospital gown he was in.
"There's a difference in being nice and throwing yourself at someone, and don't remind me, we have company," Jared groaned.
Jensen just rolled his eyes and went back to eating. Chris and Steve were still in a state of shock. They were so used to Jared being the big goofball, they were flabbergasted by the possessive side of their friend. If they didn't already know Jared and had first hand knowledge that he'd never do anything to hurt Jensen, they'd be making plans to get rid of him, as in permanently, because he was just a little scary when he got jealous.
------------------------------------------------------------------
They finally talked Steve and Chris into taking Jared's truck and going back to Jensen's condo. They had left enough items there on the advice of the realtor so when she showed the place it would look lived in, that Steve and Chris would have just about everything they needed. Jensen and Jared both went back to sleep for a few hours, Jared promising to help Jensen with his shower after the doctor saw him around nine.
Jensen's breakfast was delivered around eight, which Jared ate half of. Jensen didn't mind because he knew as soon as one of their friends showed up, Jared would go get them all some food or, if they were lucky, the guys would bring it with them. Jensen was chomping at the bit to go home, but he wasn't due to be released for another thirty hours or so and Jared was determined that Jensen would stay as long as the doctor wanted him there, even if he had to sit on him to keep him in the bed.
Dr. Patterson came around a little after nine. He was much happier with Jensen's color and said the antibiotics seemed to be working well. Jensen's fever had dropped to a more manageable 102 degrees, but he wanted it to be no higher than 99 when he sent Jensen home, which he assured Jensen unless something unforeseen happened should be within the 48 hour timetable, he had set previously. Dr. Patterson promised to stop back in around noon when the detective was supposed to come by, so he could introduce them and hand off the pictures he'd taken.
Jensen scowled at Jared every time the pictures were mentioned but Jared just ignored him, continuing his conversation with the doctor. Jensen decided he'd use the pictures to get his cell phone from Jared. It took some doing but Jared finally relinquished it and Jensen was able to call Eric. Eric reassured him everything was fine and that the writer’s strike was pretty much inevitable, so they were going to wrap up the editing on the episode they had just finished and shut things down until the strike was over.
Jensen was much easier to deal with after he found out he wasn't going to be holding up filming and wasting everyone's time, and piped down about having to stay for another day and a half. Jared helped Jensen into the shower, sitting on the closed toilet lid, so he could make sure Jensen didn't slip and crack his head, and he could continue to talk to him. Jensen had told Jared as soon as Steve and Chris left about Kylan's attempt to sexually assault him, knowing that not only would it come up again with the detective but there was a good chance Kylan would find a way to turn it around and make it sound like something consensual.
Jared was understandably pissed that he hadn't known before he'd met Kylan because it was just another reason he should have shoved the bastard in a chipper/shredder instead of letting him walk off, despite the arguments Jensen gave against it. Jared felt all along that Jensen had been holding something back, and he wasn't really surprised that this was what it had turned out to be.
No one wanted to admit to being violated that way, most of all someone as independent, and private as Jensen was. Logically, Jensen knew it wasn't a sign of weakness, he'd never thought people that had been attacked that way were weak, but emotionally and psychologically, Jared knew he berated himself for not knowing, and not being able to stop it. Jared had researched the repercussions of sexual assaults for a paper he'd done in high school and he understood that these were very common feelings.
He wished with everything in him that Jensen had never been touched by that. Even if it was an unsuccessful attempt, it still left scars that couldn't be seen but would always be felt. He thought what hurt him the most was that Jensen had gone through it alone. That had been Jensen’s choice but Jared knew that it was killing Steve and Chris to know they hadn't been there for him. Jared thought he knew pretty much everything there was to know about Jensen's strength and fortitude but just when he thought he could dot his, i's and cross his t's and end that chapter of discovery, something else would pop up and need to be added.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jensen was sitting up in bed flipping through the channels, trying to find something to watch, Jared was reading through the medical chart at the end of the bed, making up dire remedies for medical terminology that neither one of them understood. Jensen was just happy Jared had stopped exploring all the gadgets hanging on the wall. He'd threatened to call the nurses in several times when Jared started playing with some of the buttons on the wall and wouldn't leave the bed on one setting. Jared just bounced over to the cabinets and started poking through them. Jensen was pretty sure Jared had every available pocket stuffed with latex gloves and tongue depressors.
He'd tried to explain that you could buy surgical gloves anywhere but Jared refused to listen, stating that when they played doctor, he wanted it to feel authentic. Jensen was still shaking his head at Jared's grin and eyebrow waggle, when he asked Jared what he planned to do with the tongue depressors. He received a mischievous smile but no answer. Jensen was just about to start his threats of no sex when the door pushed open and the doctor walked in dressed in street clothes.
"Did you decide to take the rest of the day off?" Jensen asked.
The doctor looked at him funny. He opened his mouth to say something when the door burst open and Dr. Patterson came skidding around it. Jared and Jensen were so shocked that neither one of them could get a word out.
"You didn't tell them did you?" the man asked.
"No, I was going to get here before you but as usual you're early."
"Well, if you know I'm going to be early then why aren't you ever ahead of me?"
Jared was already confused enough without trying to follow a conversation where he thought half the words were being left out. He cleared his throat and waited for both men to turn their attention to him.
"So exactly what is going on?" Jared asked.
"This is my brother Garrett, he's also the detective I was telling you about," Dr. Patterson introduced.
"You said he was your friend, you didn't say anything about him being your brother," Jensen sputtered.
"He is my friend, you can't be twins and not be friends. We'd have killed each other growing up otherwise."
"Devon is just upset that I didn't go into medicine with him. That way, when he wanted to play hookie he would have had me to cover for him," the detective explained.
"Am not, I just don't want to see you coming through my emergency room all shot up, and you only covered for me once," Dr. Patterson huffed.
Jared snorted at the pranks that the men must have pulled when they were younger. He knew him and Jeff were bad enough, but if they'd have been twins he didn't think his parents would have survived.
"Anyway, how about we get started, and you tell me what happened. I have the case files from North Carolina, but I want to know what happened here first before we get into that," Garrett said as he pulled the chair up to Jensen's bed.
"Hey, I have to get back to rounds but here are the pictures. I'll see you on Friday okay?" Dr. Patterson looked back at Jensen, "I'll see you around six or so before I leave tonight. I want to make sure that fever is still falling."
The door shut behind him and Jensen and Jared focused on the detective again, still a little dazed at the double vision they'd just witnessed. Jared scooted further up the bed so he could get comfortable, knowing this conversation was going to take a while.
"So how about you tell me what happened yesterday, and then we'll go from there."
Jensen relayed the day’s events, with Jared giving his part of the story at the appropriate times, ending with the trip to the hospital and the bruising around Jensen's wrist. The detective looked over the bruising, his frown getting deeper as he looked at the shifting colors in the bruised area.
"The first time he contacted you was when?"
"About five weeks ago but I didn't get it until four weeks ago." Jensen answered.
"Were you away when it was left?" Garrett asked?
"My parents were here, and then I went out of town for a few days."
"Do you still have the recording?"
Jensen looked at Jared who nodded his head. Jensen had wanted to get rid of it but Jared wanted it in case Kylan did decide to show up.
"I have it back a the house. When one of the guys shows up I'll go get it." Jared explained.
"Devon said you didn't want security? Why is that?"
"Jensen would have had a shit fit if there was someone standing guard outside the door. Privacy in our world is hard won and the press can make up some wonderful lies to go with everyone's morning coffee. So I asked Dr. Patterson if me and some of our friends could stay instead," Jared explained.
"Makes sense. Now how about you tell me what happened in North Carolina. I have a statement from a Terrance Waters about some of Mr. Barclay's little hobbies, but I want to know what happened in that hotel room. You didn't press charges but it came up in the restraining order since the state pressed them for you." Garrett said. He didn't sound judgmental just stating facts that were in front of him.
"I know I should have pressed charges even if it wasn't for me, maybe someone else wouldn't have to go through this, but I was young and stupid. I just wanted it to be over and forget about him, when I left town and he didn't follow I thought it was over." Jensen sighed at the lost chance, guilt weighing his shoulders down.
"Hey, you were alone, and you didn't want your friends getting hurt. You're not perfect Jen, you did what you needed to do for you and sometimes that's all we can do," Jared reassured, rubbing his hands up and down Jensen's arms.
"I'm not here to judge you Jensen, no one has the right to say what another person should do in any given circumstance, especially when they're not in your shoes. People deal with things in all kinds of ways, that's why we have to be careful not to stereotype reactions to things. One person may cry, another get mad, some shut down completely and others disassociate. I make all my decisions based on what I can see, the pattern it fits as a whole and then where my gut leads me. Any policeman that says they don't use their gut is lying out their ass, especially ones who have been on the job awhile."
Jensen leaned back on the pillows, bringing one arm across his forehead, trying to relax some of the stress out of his shoulders.
"It was pretty normal to start off with you know, boy meets boy, boys like each other and start going out. He'd gotten a little possessive after a few weeks usually when we went out, so I just thought, hell, it'd be easier to stay in. Then it was the emails from friends and if the phone rang he wanted to know who it was, when Terry told me about the bet and all the others that had come before me I'd had enough."
"I took him to his hotel because I didn't want a great big scene in public. I didn't figure anyone would know who I was, but I just don't think that's something that needs to be discussed in public. Anyway, he wasn't pleased when I told him it was over, and that I didn't want anything to do with him. I went to leave and he hit me with one of those mag light things they can use underwater. Heavy fucker, it rang my bell pretty good. He took the opportunity of me being down to do some free pounding, got in a few good kicks, when he thought I was out enough not to put up a fight I guess he decided he'd get in one more fuck you." Jensen trailed off.
"I've read over the reports, you got in a few shots and made them count, probably the only thing that kept him from getting further. According to this Terrance, it was a normal part of his M.O. When he was in town, he’d pick a girl or guy and see how far he could go. One of the detectives down there in North Carolina who took an instant dislike to the guy, started doing some digging with the help of Terrance's list of dates and places. Officer Mallory, that's the fella that did the legwork, found out Kylan usually went for the unique, always something just a little more special about them. He said it wasn't always their looks, maybe their jobs or their personalities but there was always that one little thing that set them apart."
Jensen sighed, "How many has he beat the hell out of, or was I just extra special?"
Garrett shook his head, "No you're not the only one things got physical with, but you are the only one, he put in the hospital. I'm guessing no one else fought back though. The most troubling case is one in Australia, a young woman he'd been seeing hasn't been heard from in over three years. From what Officer Mallory could piece together, Kylan was courting her fast and furious. Her co-workers said they didn't notice anything off but then the young lady was a very private person. They were worried when she didn't show up for work after a long weekend so they called her emergency contact. Her parents said she was supposed to be out of town with her boyfriend."
"The boyfriend in question was one Kylan Barclay. He acknowledged that they were supposed to go over to one of the beaches, but that he got a call about a group of sharks traveling together, as far as he knew Alisha was going to stay at her apartment. Australian police couldn't find any evidence of foul play, nothing linking Kylan to her disappearance, so were never able to charge him. They do have a standing flag on his passport so that if he enters the country they know about it, needless to say, they think he was involved but their hands are tied." Garrett finished looking up at the Jensen's face which had gone completely white. Jared's wasn't much darker either.
"They think he killed her?" Jared finally asked.
"Her credit cards haven't been used, none of her money has been withdrawn from her bank, usually a sign of a person no longer with the living. I'm not real happy with the no security guard but at the moment I'll let it be. Anything comes up that makes me twitchy, and I don't care how mad it makes you, someone will be outside your door or parked on your doorstep. I take folks under my protection very seriously, and since you're in my district, that means you." Garrett warned, as he stood.
"I'll be filing a report and dropping by here or your house to have you sign it. You remember anything else from before or yesterday, give me a call," he said, holding out his business card for Jensen to take.
Detective Patterson shook both men's hands and promised to get the ball rolling on trying to locate Kylan.
Jensen was very quiet after the detective left. Jared continued to watch as Jensen seemed to draw in on himself. When he couldn't take it anymore, he nudged until Jensen laid his head on his chest.
"Tell me," Jared demanded quietly.
"That girl could still be alive if I'd have said something." Jensen's voice shuddered out of him.
Jared had been afraid this was what had Jensen so quiet.
"Jensen, the state pressed the same charges you would have. They took it out of your hands, yes, but it doesn't change the fact that the same thing would have happened if you'd have done it."
"Yes, but I didn't. I was worried about what would happen if my friends and family found out. I didn't want anyone getting hurt because of me, Jared I was scared and all I could think about is how scared that girl must have been knowing she was going to die, knowing she'd never see her family again or get to say goodbye." Jensen voice broke and he buried his head in Jared's neck, his hand holding tight to Jared's shirt.
"Jensen, everyone gets scared, it's what makes us human and sane. We don't know for sure that's what happened to her. I'm not going to lie and say I don't think it's true, but we just don't know. I swear man, even if you'd have shouted it from the rooftops he'd have found someone else even if it wasn't that girl. He didn't rack up all the victims he's had by being an asshole, not to start off with. Cut yourself some slack. You were 24 years old, by yourself, in the hospital, and you'd been betrayed and almost sexually assaulted by someone you thought you could trust."
Jensen buried his face even closer, trying to breath Jared into his body. The scent and feel of him helping to ground and reassure him that he could survive anything. Jared pulled Jensen even closer, running his hands up and down Jensen's back, waiting for some of the tension to leave his boyfriend’s body. As Jensen started to relax the emotional and physical stress he'd been under started to take their toll, his eyes slowly drooping until they closed completely and his breathing evened out. Jared eased Jensen back onto the pillows but never released his hold. The detective's words echoed in his head over and over again.
He kissed Jensen's forehead, running his hand through the soft strands of light brown hair. Jared wouldn't survive if something happened to Jensen. He didn't care what it took, Kylan wasn't going to be a problem for anyone ever again.
Author : angels3 aka Angela
Beta : munimula - who is the best beta ever and any mistakes left are so mine, and there will probably be a plenty as I had to rework some things after she sent it back to me. I hope I got all the mistakes as I had to do this twice. Don't ask you don't want to know
Word Count : 9198
Pairing : Jensen/Jared
Supporting Characters : Eric, Kim, Sera, Mike, Tom, Chris, Steve, Chad, Kylan (who is a figmant of my imagination
Disclaimers : They don't belong to me because if they did.............................
Warnings : RPS M/M sex , not this chapter though. This chapter is very dialouge heavy. Sorry no action this one but there will be some in seven.
Summary : This is the sequel to When Things Come Crashing Down. It starts immediately where that story left off.
You know that person that Chris never had the name for? Well he may soon get it. Jensen and Jared have to deal with someone from Jensen's past.
Chapters - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12a 12b 13a 13b 14
Kylan
PDF for The Past Never Stays There
"Jared? What's wrong?" Chris asked.
"Is Steve with you?"
"Yes. Now tell me what the fuck is going on?" Chris growled.
Jared winced at the sound. "We're at the hospital."
"Hospital!" Chris shouted, nearly deafening him.
"Jensen passed out, he's all right though," Jared said in a rush, trying to calm the fear vibrating across the phone line.
He heard muffled talking, followed by a sounded like a brief tug of war, then Steve's voice filled his ear.
"Jared, the airport shuttle is still here. They're going to run us over there, so we'll be there in just a few minutes. Now tell me what happened." Steve said as calmly as he could at hearing Jensen and hospital in the same sentence.
"We had a long weekend, so we were moving Jensen's things. He sent me on ahead to pick up the dogs." Jared took a deep breath, trying to stop the tremble in his voice.
"I swear Steve, I didn't even think about it. The further away I drove the worse the feeling in my stomach got. I tried to call and he wouldn't answer, and you know how he is about his cell phone. I turned around and went back." Jared took a deep breath, so he could continue, nerves making him trip over his words. His stomach clenched remembering the fear climbing his thoat when didn't know what was happening to Jensen.
"Jared, just clam down and tell me what went on," Steve soothed.
"Okay," Jared took another deep breath.
"I called Tom, I was hoping he was at home because he would have been closer, but him and Mike were at the set. When I got there Kylan had Jensen by the wrist. Jensen was trying to get him to let go without it getting violent. Kylan finally released him when he saw me, and not long after that Mike and Tom showed up, he left right after. I thought things were okay, next thing I know, Jensen's passed out." Jared finished in a rush, trying to still the fear that retelling the events had brought back.
"So, what did the doctor's say?" Steve asked.
Jared cringed when Steve told Chris to pipe down so he could hear. Chris was not only going to kill him for not telling him about Kylan, and leaving Jensen alone when he knew better, but Chris was going to make him a eunich for not realizing Jensen was as sick as he was. Not to mention he was going to have Steve and Chris' breakup on his head too. Jared knew he was being just a tad melodramatic, but damn, it had been a shitty day.
"He has pneumonia and bronchitis, plus he's dehydrated, that's why he passed out, well that and exhaustion. The doctor wants him to stay for 48 hours." Jared explained, he knew he was rambling but he couldn't seem to stop.
" All right, we'll be there any minute. I'll fill Chris in on everything, and then we'll go from there."
Jared sighed in relief, glad that he wasn't the one doing the explaining, at least he could do his explaing after the big fallout. Jared closed Jensen's phone and returned to the room. releived to see Dr. Patterson had waited until he came back so Jensen wouldn't be left alone.
"I just told Jensen that we'd remove the IV with the fluids tomorrow morning, but I want to keep him on the antibiotics intravenously until the day I release him. It's a lot more potent that way, and when you go home, I'll give you a prescription that needs to be filled." The doctor said, ignoring the scowl Jensen was giving him.
"Is there anything you can give him for the cough? He's not been sleeping well at all, because he's been coughing so hard."
"Hey, I'm right here," Jensen growled, waving his hand in the air.
"Yes, you are." Jared replied and went right back to ignoring him, so he could pay attention to the doctor.
The weak snarl coming from behind him just made Jared smile. He could picture Jensen's exact look. Arms crossed over his chest, well maybe not because his IV's would get in the way, but he was sure Jensen would find a way to look properly put out. His eyebrows would be furrowed, and eyes narrowed in irritation. His lips would be pursed in a pout, which always made Jared want to suck that bottom lip into his mouth and bite it. Oh yeah, Jensen would look totally fuckable and he really needed to find another train of thought before the doctor thought better of letting him stay the night with his sick boyfriend.
"I'm going to be giving him the same cough medicine he's been taking, just increasing the dosage, so he can actually get some rest," the doctor said with an amused look on his face.
Dr. Patterson looked past Jared to Jensen, "The detective I told you about is going to come by tomorrow morning. I'll stop in while he's here and give him a copy of the pictures we took."
"What pictures?" Jensen sputtered, looking between Jared and the doctor
"I'm going to leave that one to you," the doctor patted Jared's arm.
"Thanks ever so much," Jared responded, sarcasm heavy in his voice.
"Don't mention it. Jensen, I'll see you in the morning. You can tell me how awesome I am. Not only do you get the good shit, but you get the magic cough medicine too." Dr. Patterson shot Jared a grin and was out the door.
"Jared, what pictures?" Jensen growled.
Jared slowly turned around, steeling himself for the little seen but greatly feared Ackles temper.
"The doctor asked permission to take pictures of your wrist in case you decided to press charges."
"Oh, and I bet you just signed right on that dotted line, didn't you Jay?"
"Actually it was a solid line, but yes I signed it."
"You do realize if a tabloid gets hold of that they're going to have a field day?"
"Jensen, I couldn't give a rats ass what the tabloids say or do, not that I think they'll get the pictures. All I care about is making sure you're okay, and we have whatever we need to keep you that way."
Jensen sighed loudly, irritation still etched in the rigid posture, but his anger had drained away, unable to hold on to it in the face of Jared's need to protect him.
"Fine but you don't get to sign anything else. I'm revoking your signing privileges, I'm going to give them to Tom instead." Jensen huffed.
"Sure you are Jen," Jared agreed, crossing the room to sit on the end of the bed. "So the doctor talked you into reporting it?"
"Yes and no," Jensen answered, still giving Jared the evil eye.
" Explain please."
"Yes, because he swore on his grandma's grave this guy would keep it quiet. No, because you went and made sure Kylan knew who, and what you were to me. So if this will keep him away from you then I'll do it."
"Jensen, I don't need protecting."
"Yeah, that's what I said too and look what happened," Jensen responded.
Jared flinched at the quietly spoken words, and dropped his eyes to the blanket he'd been picking at.
"Hey, Jared what's wrong?" Jensen asked softly, leaning forward and taking Jared's hand in his. He had seen the flinch and Jared looked like someone had stolen one of their dogs.
"You weren't supposed to get hurt, not again. He wasn't supposed to be able to get anywhere near you. I tried to cover all the bases, and then I'm the one who left you, so he could get his chance."
Jared's voice thick with self reproach. He continued to pick at the blanket covering Jensen's legs.
"Jared. Hey look, at me."
Jared didn't want to see Jensen's face. He knew it would be full of forgiveness and love, something he didn't feel like he deserved any of at the moment.
"I'm sorry Jen. I fucked up, I didn't even think about it when I left," he said mournfully, lifting his eyes to finally look at Jensen.
"Jared, none of this is your fault. Jesus... Kylan is a freak. I never should have gotten involved with him. If it's anybody's fault it's mine." Jensen said, squeezing Jared's hand and smiling at him.
Jared turned his hand over so he could wrap his fingers in Jensen's solid grip.
"There's no way you could know Kylan was a psycho, dominant asshole. Last time I checked, you didn't walk on water, contrary to the fans popular opinion, so you're not the all knowing. You couldn't have known." Jared refuted.
"How about we call it a draw and try to figure out how to get rid of him?" Jensen asked, shooting for a compromise.
"So exactly what did you do anyway? I know you never really left me alone. Did you do something else?"
"Promise you won't get mad at me?" Jared begged.
"Jay, I think I've met my quota for getting angry tonight. I can't be angry at you for trying to protect me."
"Um...." Jared stalled.
"Jared, I swear I'm not going to be mad."
Jared took a deep breath letting it out slowly, he looked at Jensen waiting patiently. There was no way he was getting out of this, he decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and tell Jensen everything.
"I googled Kylan so I could see what he looked like, then I took the picture to Eric and asked him to make sure the guy never made it on the set. When we went out with Mike and Tom, one of us always stayed with you, and you already know you didn't get far from my sight. Well, until today that is." Jared said, feeling the need to say what the nasty little voice in his head had been shouting.
"Jared, I'm warning you, if you don't stop that shit I'm going to get pissed. I've already told you it's not your fault." a grin spread across Jensen's face. "I was kind of wondering why all of a sudden I had company when I went to the bathroom."
"Well if I'd been the one always going with you then the trips would have been much longer." Jared quipped.
"Yes, but it would have been a lot more fun than having Mike in there singing just to hear himself echo. So is this there anything else I need to know about?"
"No, that's pretty much it. Oh!" Jared stopped.
"What?" Jensen asked at the sudden outburst.
"I told Steve," Jared answered quietly.
"You told Steve what?" Jensen asked, confused by Jared's guilty expression.
"You told him everything? Oh Jesus, this is going to be fun. He didn't tell Chris did he?"
"No, and that's another thing." Jared cringed, moving out of range of flailing limbs. "Chris and Steve should be here any minute."
"What? Why did you tell them I was in the hospital Jared? They've spent enough time with their lives on hold because of me."
"I didn't, I swear, or I didn't until they called and said they were standing on our front porch. There wasn't much else I could do except tell them the truth," Jared explained in a rush.
Jensen relaxed a little with the knowledge that his friends hadn't dropped everything and flown out to baby sit him, but he still grimaced at the thought of not being able to mask just how badly he felt.
"Shit!" Jensen moaned.
"Yeah, that's what I said. Steve was going to explain about Kylan on the way over here so I have a feeling things are going to be tense when they finally show up."
"Hmm give me a few minutes alone with Chris when they get here, I'll take care of it. I'm sorry I got upset, I just don't want them interrupting everything their doing to come take care of me," Jensen said, squeezing Jared's hand again.
"I know Jen, but they just want to be there when you need them. You don't have to do everything on your own. It doesn't make you any less of a person or any less independent to ask for help. Wouldn't you want to be there when something happens to me or one of our friends? Do you think I'm weak when I need help or when I'm sick?"
"No, but..."
"No buts, it's part of being with someone. Love is great but we both know it takes more than love. It takes respect, communication and compromise, and I think we do a damn good job of all three, even though we still need to work on that communication thing some more." Jared finished, leaning forward and placing a kiss on Jensen's forehead. He lowered his head to rest against Jensen's.
"We just have to remember it's hard work, something that's worth it always is, and we are worth it." Jared said, moving down to place a gentle kiss on Jensen's lips, before he sat back.
"I know it's worth it, I just hate when my shit bleeds over into everybody's life," Jensen explained.
"Well I'm sure Steve and Chris didn't see it that way anymore than I do," Jensen sighed, leaning back into the pillows. The cough medicine the nurse had brought starting to make him groggy.
Jared watched Jensen battle to keep his eyes open. When it had been a few minutes and his eyelids didn't flicker open, Jared stood up and made his way to the door. He wanted to make sure Chris and Steve didn't burst in and wake him up. Jared had told the nurses station after talking to Steve, that there were two stressed and possibly frantic men coming to see Jensen, so they were already expected.
He stepped out of the room closing the door behind him, leaning against it, taking a deep breath. Jared shut his eyes, relaxing for just a minute letting the day fall away, he'd been furious when he saw Kylan with his hand on Jensen and then terrified when Jensen passed out. He'd been in a state of high alert for hours, and he was crashing both physically and mentally. When he opened them again he was met by the piercing blue glare of Christian Kane.
"Shit man! Don't do that! You almost gave me a stroke," Jared exclaimed, clutching his hand to his chest.
"Good," Chris growled. "If you keep shit like this from me again you'll have more to worry about than a stroke, are we clear?"
"Yeah, crystal," Jared answered, nodding his head. He wasn't going to make excuses, and he was going to give Chris time to see Jensen and cool down before he talked to him.
Jared knew when he made the decision to follow Steve's advice, there were going to be ruffled feathers, but if it kept Jensen safe and kept their friend out of jail, he was willing to face a few pissed people, even Chris.
"Be quiet when you go in, he just fell asleep," Jared cautioned as he stepped away from the door.
He received a murderous glare as Chris bypassed him and walked into the room.
"Damn," Jared breathed out.
"It'll be all right, he just needs to see that Jensen is okay with his own eyes. He'll start calming down after that." Steve said, patting Jared on the arm.
"I hope so, Jensen said to give him a few minutes with Chris, so when he wakes up, we can go get some food."
"Did the doctor say anything else about his condition?" Steve asked.
"No, but he did manage to get Jensen to agree about reporting it. The doctor knows this detective and he's going to come by tomorrow to take Jensen's statement and get the pictures the doctor made so they can keep them as part of the case."
"What pictures?"
"The one's the doctor took of the bruises...." Jared trailed off.
"What bruises?"
"I didn't tell you about the bruises did I?" Jared backed up a little just in case Steve decided he wanted to throw a punch.
"No, you neglected to tell me that part and Chris is in there discovering them for himself." Steve sighed.
"I told you Kylan had him by the wrist. I didn't know until later how hard he must have been holding on. The doctor even asked me about them before he'd tell me anything. I think he was worried about Jensen being in an abusive relationship, which he was, just not with me." Jared finished.
"Son of a bitch, Chris is going to rip him to shreds."
"Yeah, he's not the only one," Jared mumbled.
Jared held the door open for Steve, hanging back to give him a chance to do his own visual assessment of Jensen. Chris was sitting in the chair beside the bed, watching the machine measuring Jensen's heart beat. He looked over when the door opened, worry etched in his face.
"His blood pressure is still a little low and his heart rate is a little high." Chris said quietly.
"The doctor said his blood pressure will stabilize once he's fully hydrated again. The heart rate is probably the medicine, but we'll ask the next time the nurse comes in. It must not be too high, or they'd be in here right now." Jared replied.
"He get these from Kylan?" Chris asked, nodding his head at the bruises.
"Yeah, I didn't know he was holding on so tight, or I would have tore his arm off, but Jensen didn't want to start anything. He doesn't mind going at it, he's just not going to be the one to start it."
"Yes I know. What goods is teaching the boy to fight dirty if he's not going to use it," Chris huffed.
"I'm sure if he thought he needed it, he wouldn't hesitate," Steve cut in, sitting down next to Chris.
"Don't think I'm not still pissed at you for keeping me in the dark," Chris informed Steve and Jared.
"Oh, we had no doubt of that," Steve assured.
They sat and talked quietly for the next several hours about the happenings in their lives. Steve told Jared how the rest of his tour was, Chris talked about Steve joining him at the tail end of his. Chris was of the opinion he always sounded better when Steve was there, Steve, of course, said it wasn't true because he always sounded great. When Jensen finally started stirring Chris and Steve had dozed off, the flight and stress finally catching up with them. Jared moved around to the head of the bed so Jensen would be able to see him when he woke up. He hated the look of disorientation Jensen always had when they weren't at home and Jensen would start awake and look around wide eyed. There shouldn't ever be a time that Jensen looked like that as far as he was concerned.
When Jensen finally blinked awake, his lips curved into a small smile, his sight filling with Jared smiling down at him.
"So, that cough medicine is awesome isn't it?" Jared asked.
"I'm definitely going to have to add a few more puffs of air to Dr. Patterson's ego, I'm afraid." Jensen acknowledged.
"Oh that'll make his day. Chris and Steve are here now," Jared said nodding towards the sleeping pair.
Jensen turned his head and saw their friends sleeping in some of the most awkward positions he had ever seen them in. He couldn't stop himself from smiling at the sight. When he looked back at Jared he was ginning as well, dimples on full display. Jensen lifted his head off the pillow asking for a kiss, one that Jared gladly gifted him with.
"So how bad was it?" Jensen asked, needing to know how much damage control he had ahead of him.
"Not good, he pretty much threatened to kill me if I ever left him in the dark again. He's not touching Steve either which doesn't make me feel any better, since I was the one that called and dumped it on Steve's plate." Jared sighed, running his hands through messy hair.
"I'll talk to Chris. It'll be okay, he just needs time to calm down and think things through."
"Well it looks like you're going to get your chance soon," Jared whispered, as Chris shifted around, trying to find a more comfortable position.
"You haven't seen some of the places I've seen him crash in. We've got at least a couple of hours before he's back in the land of the living. How about coming up here and keeping me company?"
"There's no way we'll both fit up there," Jared whispered.
"Come up here and we'll see," Jensen patted the bed.
Jared sighed, looking doubtfully at the bed, Jensen moved to the side and Jared crawled up onto the bed with him, careful not to jar the IV. It was a tight fit with two large men, but necessity is the mother of invention or in their case improvisation, both needing to feel the other. Jensen scooted down until he could rest his head on Jared's chest, and Jared could put his arm around him. Twin sighs of contentment escaped their lips as they settled down to get some much needed sleep. Jared decided he didn't mind being wrong at all.
***************************************************************************
Three hours later, Chris woke with a knot in his neck that he wasn't sure would ever unwind and Steve drooling on his shoulder. He rolled his eyes and pushed Steve's head up enough to get his arm around Steve's back and pull him in closer to his side. His eyes traveled around the room looking for Jared, finally settling on the bed where he found both men wrapped around each other asleep. Chris stretched his legs out trying to remind them what blood flow was. Steve grunted as his pillow shifted beneath him but quieted quickly when Chris ran his fingers through Steve's hair. He let the quiet soothe his frayed nerves, the beep and whoosh of the machines a backdrop of monotony that had him staring off into space, no real thoughts forming, just a mind numbing void.
A nurse came in a half an hour later to change the empty bags and give Jensen more cough medicine, the rustle of plastic and clinking of metal effectively waking everyone not already up. Jared was sitting on the end of the bed looking like a five year old that had been rousted from sleep in the middle of the night, his hair plastered to his head on one side, crease marks running the length of his cheek where it had been resting against Jensen crumpled shirt. He wasn't fully awake yet, his eyes kept drooping and he'd reach up to rub at them, struggling for coherency.
Steve was in a similar state, blinking sluggishy at the nurse as he watched her go about her duties. Chris had pulled back into himself when Steve woke up, not ready to forgive what he felt was a betrayal. It hadn't been a lie really, but it was a secret, and it stung that Steve hadn't trusted him. The nurse finished up and told Jensen the doctor would be by to see him in a couple of hours and that if he needed anything to just hit the call button and she'd be right in. Jared's sleepy, dazed look changed to a grumpy scowl as the nurse left in a swish of support shoes.
"If he needs anything, he won't have to push the call button," Jared mimicked in a high, sarcastic voice.
Chris shot Jared a surprised look and Jensen almost choked on the water he'd been drinking.
"Jay?" Jensen asked when he finally stopped coughing.
"Don't you Jay me, you know what she was hinting at."
"She just caught you draped all over me! How could she miss the, I'm gay part." Jensen asked exasperated.
"You know they think they can turn us back." Jared's voice had that ' duh' quality to it.
"Oh dear God. Steve please go feed him, he's hallucinating," Jensen begged.
Steve shuffled to his feet. He leaned down and kissed the top of Chris' head, grabbing Jared by the arm and pulling him to the door. He was still shaking his head as Jared continued to mumble about buttons and stupid nurses when the door snicked shut.
Jensen looked over at Chris who had settled back in the chair, arms crossed over his chest, forehead creased in a scowl. Jensen knew this wasn't going to be a fun conversation, but he also knew there was no way he was going to let Chris act like an ass when he would have done the same things that Steve and Jared had done. He just had to remind Chris of that without getting his head chewed off.
"So what's got you so pissy?" Jensen asked, settling back into the pillows and focusing on Chris again.
"I don't think this is a good time or place to be having this conversation. How about you tell me about this Kylan prick," Chris countered.
Jensen decided the best thing to do was give Chris a little before asking for something in return. Jensen had learned over the years how to navigate the minefield that was Christian Kane. "Not to much to tell, just another mistake in a long line of mistakes."
"More to it than that." Chris grunted.
"No not really, he was just a bigger asshole than the others."
"Why didn't you ever mention him, or better yet, why didn't you say something about the three days you spent in the hospital after he beat the shit out of you?"
Jensen shifted in the bed and tried to get more comfortable. "Yeah not my finest hour, but how did you know I was in the hospital for three days?" He opted to answer the hospital part of the question, hoping Chris wouldn't bring up why he didn't tell him again.
Chris snorted, his voice bitter. "Steve decided his time was better spent digging for answers instead of filling me in on what was going on."
Jensen knew the other shoe was about to drop. He hadn't told Jared because ultimately nothing had happened, and it was something he'd hoped no one would find out, but if Steve had been digging, then they already knew.
"How about the fact that he tried to sexually assault you while you were dazed from the blow to the head?" Chris asked in almost a whisper, eyes pinning Jensen to the bed.
"Because it was a mute point Chris, he didn't succeed. I broke his kneecap and then his jaw. There wasn't any reason for any of ya'll to know that."
Chris looked at him through bloodshot eyes. Jensen could see the fear, relief, and self-recrimination pass over Chris' face, everything he'd tried to keep his friends from feeling, by not telling them.
"How is he not in jail right now? How the hell is he here and not being somebody's bitch in the shower room?"
"He got probation, physical therapy, and a one way ticket out of the country. Canada's not the U.S. Chris, he can still come here. Why he's waited five years I don't know, maybe he was doing time somewhere else or maybe he's been torturing someone other than me."
"Why are you so fucking calm about this?"
"What am I going to do Chris? Get hysterical? Fall all to pieces? Shit man, what good’s that going to do? You want me to get mad? I've already done that it didn't help. You think I'm not scared? I am, I'm not stupid. The guy is seriously off his rocker, I don't want you and Steve anywhere near me with him around. Shit, Jared pretty much waved a red flag in his face with great big letters saying come get me. Hell, fucking yea I'm scared, but I'm doing everything I can. For God's sake, Jared's done everything but lock me in the house and refuse to let me out, which I'm sure he's going to insist on now." Jensen wound down, as he was overcome by a coughing fit.
Chris stood up quickly and handed him the glass of water sitting on the table. His had hovered over the call button but Jensen shook his head and grabbed at Chris' hand. He waited as (until) Jensen finished it and leaned back into the pillow again. Chris sat back in the chair, kneading his temples where a gradual throb had been building.
"You remember when we were at that bar in Tennessee, the one where Steve was playing for two or three nights?" Jensen asked.
"How could I forget, you broke a couple of knuckles on that dude's face," Chris smirked.
"I wouldn't have had to if you'd have stayed out of the Tequila bottle. I saw him follow you to the bathroom. What was I supposed to do? You could hardly stand up by yourself, and I knew what he wanted, he'd been watching you all night."
"I still could have taken him," Chris grumbled.
"I'm sure," Jensen snorted. "Would that have been before or after he bent you over the sink you were shoved up against when I came in?"
"You do know, I know exactly what you're doing, right?" Chris asked.
Jensen just hummed an agreement. "I believe you made me swear not to tell Steve. Why was that? Do you remember?"
"You know why, but you’re not going to shut up until I say it are you?" Chris accused, glaring at Jensen.
"Nope." Jensen agreed with a great big grin.
"Fine, I didn't want him to mess up his set."
"And...."
"I didn't want him getting in a fight I couldn't back him up in. Didn't matter anyway, he found out," Chris huffed.
"Not because I told him. He does have eyes. He saw you putting them away, and if I knew the guy was watching you all night you can bet your ass Steve knew it too. He was getting ready to drop his guitar and go in there after you, that's why I went. We came out and the guy never did, coupled with your split lip and my busted knuckles it didn't take a rocket scientist to know what happened."
Chris turned his head to glare at the wall.
"I'm sure Steve was going to tell you man, he just didn't want to do it when he wasn't there to back you up and he didn't have all the information he needed. You know how he is about being prepared."
Chris rolled his eyes sighing because he knew exactly how Steve was. That was just one of the reasons he loved the man.
"Do I need to remind you of the time that chick was chasing Steve? She went to every event, all his shows, and made sure she got photos and autographs at every one." Jensen said around a yawn, snuggling even further down into the pillows.
"That bitch had issues!" Chris exclaimed.
"Yes, she was a little unstable. She thought her and Steve were soul mates or something, right?"
"Yeah, they were destined to be together because their planets and stars aligned or some shit like that. I don't know man she was just wacked."
"What did you do?" Jensen asked.
"You know what I did," Chris sighed. He knew he was cornered and there was no escape until Jensen made his point. Damn if he didn’t just hate Jensen's big brain sometimes.
"Yes, I do, but I want you to tell me."
"I hired a bodyguard so that if I couldn't be there he'd be safe. I may have cancelled a few gigs," Chris said grudgingly.
"A few? Try almost half a tour."
Chris just shrugged, refusing to look at Jensen.
"And...."
"You do know I hate when you do this shit right?" Chris whined.
Jensen just continued to stare at him until he sighed again and gave up.
"I didn't tell you. I didn't want you anywhere near us in case she went super nova."
"Would you do it again?"
"You know I would, damn it!"
"Why?"
"Because Steve gives good head and if something did happen I wanted to make sure you weren't around so I'd have another dick on standby," Chris snarked.
Jensen folded his arms across his chest and waited.
"I swear I don't know why I even like you, you’re an ass. I did it because I'd do anything to keep him safe, and I wouldn't tell you again because you’re like my brother, and I didn't want you anywhere near that shit. Hell, if I'd have been able to find a way for Steve to have disappeared I'd have done that too," Chris finished, exasperated. He slouched down in his seat, pointedly ignoring the sunny smile Jensen was aiming his way.
That's how Jared and Steve found them a few minutes later when they came back bearing food. Jared looked at Chris sitting in the chair pouting and then over at Jensen grinning from ear to ear. He carefully edged his way to the bed and sat down next to Jensen. Steve, however, walked right over to Chris and plopped down beside him. He took Chris' hand in his and brought it to his lips, kissing across his knuckles.
"I was going to tell you. I just wanted to know what we were walking into first."
"Yeah, well maybe I'd like to know what we're walking into too," Chris grumped.
"That's just it, you wouldn't have walked. You'd have run and then dived in head first, and as much as I love Jensen, there's no way I'm going to risk losing you," Steve said, leaning over and kissing Chris gently.
There was a soft knock on the door before it opened and the nurse from before brought in towels and soap because Jensen had asked if he could shower. She placed the supplies on the end of the bed and told him he could shower at any time as long as he had help in the room. If not, he was to call the nurses station and one of them would be in to help. Jared scowled as the door closed, heat spiraling through his veins.
"I just bet you would be right in to help," Jared mumbled under his breath.
"Wow!" Steve exlcaimed.
Chris was a little stunned. He just sat there blinking at Jared for a minute. "You know I'm damn happy he doesn't have Sam's powers," Chris told Steve in a mock whisper.
Jared looked over at their friends a confused look on his face. "What?"
Jensen was trying his best not to laugh. He stifled a giggle and took one of Jared's hands in his.
"Jared you look like you're about to blow a gasket. You do realize you could break her in half if she tried anything," Jensen said.
"It's not funny. This is the second time in less than..." Jared stopped and looked at his watch, "Thirty minutes, she's tried to get in your pants, with me standing right here." Jared finished on a growl.
"She's just doing her job. She's supposed to be nice," Jensen said, still trying not to laugh. He pulled on Jared's hand until he leaned down. "By the way, I'm not wearing any pants," he whispered in reference to the hospital gown he was in.
"There's a difference in being nice and throwing yourself at someone, and don't remind me, we have company," Jared groaned.
Jensen just rolled his eyes and went back to eating. Chris and Steve were still in a state of shock. They were so used to Jared being the big goofball, they were flabbergasted by the possessive side of their friend. If they didn't already know Jared and had first hand knowledge that he'd never do anything to hurt Jensen, they'd be making plans to get rid of him, as in permanently, because he was just a little scary when he got jealous.
------------------------------------------------------------------
They finally talked Steve and Chris into taking Jared's truck and going back to Jensen's condo. They had left enough items there on the advice of the realtor so when she showed the place it would look lived in, that Steve and Chris would have just about everything they needed. Jensen and Jared both went back to sleep for a few hours, Jared promising to help Jensen with his shower after the doctor saw him around nine.
Jensen's breakfast was delivered around eight, which Jared ate half of. Jensen didn't mind because he knew as soon as one of their friends showed up, Jared would go get them all some food or, if they were lucky, the guys would bring it with them. Jensen was chomping at the bit to go home, but he wasn't due to be released for another thirty hours or so and Jared was determined that Jensen would stay as long as the doctor wanted him there, even if he had to sit on him to keep him in the bed.
Dr. Patterson came around a little after nine. He was much happier with Jensen's color and said the antibiotics seemed to be working well. Jensen's fever had dropped to a more manageable 102 degrees, but he wanted it to be no higher than 99 when he sent Jensen home, which he assured Jensen unless something unforeseen happened should be within the 48 hour timetable, he had set previously. Dr. Patterson promised to stop back in around noon when the detective was supposed to come by, so he could introduce them and hand off the pictures he'd taken.
Jensen scowled at Jared every time the pictures were mentioned but Jared just ignored him, continuing his conversation with the doctor. Jensen decided he'd use the pictures to get his cell phone from Jared. It took some doing but Jared finally relinquished it and Jensen was able to call Eric. Eric reassured him everything was fine and that the writer’s strike was pretty much inevitable, so they were going to wrap up the editing on the episode they had just finished and shut things down until the strike was over.
Jensen was much easier to deal with after he found out he wasn't going to be holding up filming and wasting everyone's time, and piped down about having to stay for another day and a half. Jared helped Jensen into the shower, sitting on the closed toilet lid, so he could make sure Jensen didn't slip and crack his head, and he could continue to talk to him. Jensen had told Jared as soon as Steve and Chris left about Kylan's attempt to sexually assault him, knowing that not only would it come up again with the detective but there was a good chance Kylan would find a way to turn it around and make it sound like something consensual.
Jared was understandably pissed that he hadn't known before he'd met Kylan because it was just another reason he should have shoved the bastard in a chipper/shredder instead of letting him walk off, despite the arguments Jensen gave against it. Jared felt all along that Jensen had been holding something back, and he wasn't really surprised that this was what it had turned out to be.
No one wanted to admit to being violated that way, most of all someone as independent, and private as Jensen was. Logically, Jensen knew it wasn't a sign of weakness, he'd never thought people that had been attacked that way were weak, but emotionally and psychologically, Jared knew he berated himself for not knowing, and not being able to stop it. Jared had researched the repercussions of sexual assaults for a paper he'd done in high school and he understood that these were very common feelings.
He wished with everything in him that Jensen had never been touched by that. Even if it was an unsuccessful attempt, it still left scars that couldn't be seen but would always be felt. He thought what hurt him the most was that Jensen had gone through it alone. That had been Jensen’s choice but Jared knew that it was killing Steve and Chris to know they hadn't been there for him. Jared thought he knew pretty much everything there was to know about Jensen's strength and fortitude but just when he thought he could dot his, i's and cross his t's and end that chapter of discovery, something else would pop up and need to be added.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jensen was sitting up in bed flipping through the channels, trying to find something to watch, Jared was reading through the medical chart at the end of the bed, making up dire remedies for medical terminology that neither one of them understood. Jensen was just happy Jared had stopped exploring all the gadgets hanging on the wall. He'd threatened to call the nurses in several times when Jared started playing with some of the buttons on the wall and wouldn't leave the bed on one setting. Jared just bounced over to the cabinets and started poking through them. Jensen was pretty sure Jared had every available pocket stuffed with latex gloves and tongue depressors.
He'd tried to explain that you could buy surgical gloves anywhere but Jared refused to listen, stating that when they played doctor, he wanted it to feel authentic. Jensen was still shaking his head at Jared's grin and eyebrow waggle, when he asked Jared what he planned to do with the tongue depressors. He received a mischievous smile but no answer. Jensen was just about to start his threats of no sex when the door pushed open and the doctor walked in dressed in street clothes.
"Did you decide to take the rest of the day off?" Jensen asked.
The doctor looked at him funny. He opened his mouth to say something when the door burst open and Dr. Patterson came skidding around it. Jared and Jensen were so shocked that neither one of them could get a word out.
"You didn't tell them did you?" the man asked.
"No, I was going to get here before you but as usual you're early."
"Well, if you know I'm going to be early then why aren't you ever ahead of me?"
Jared was already confused enough without trying to follow a conversation where he thought half the words were being left out. He cleared his throat and waited for both men to turn their attention to him.
"So exactly what is going on?" Jared asked.
"This is my brother Garrett, he's also the detective I was telling you about," Dr. Patterson introduced.
"You said he was your friend, you didn't say anything about him being your brother," Jensen sputtered.
"He is my friend, you can't be twins and not be friends. We'd have killed each other growing up otherwise."
"Devon is just upset that I didn't go into medicine with him. That way, when he wanted to play hookie he would have had me to cover for him," the detective explained.
"Am not, I just don't want to see you coming through my emergency room all shot up, and you only covered for me once," Dr. Patterson huffed.
Jared snorted at the pranks that the men must have pulled when they were younger. He knew him and Jeff were bad enough, but if they'd have been twins he didn't think his parents would have survived.
"Anyway, how about we get started, and you tell me what happened. I have the case files from North Carolina, but I want to know what happened here first before we get into that," Garrett said as he pulled the chair up to Jensen's bed.
"Hey, I have to get back to rounds but here are the pictures. I'll see you on Friday okay?" Dr. Patterson looked back at Jensen, "I'll see you around six or so before I leave tonight. I want to make sure that fever is still falling."
The door shut behind him and Jensen and Jared focused on the detective again, still a little dazed at the double vision they'd just witnessed. Jared scooted further up the bed so he could get comfortable, knowing this conversation was going to take a while.
"So how about you tell me what happened yesterday, and then we'll go from there."
Jensen relayed the day’s events, with Jared giving his part of the story at the appropriate times, ending with the trip to the hospital and the bruising around Jensen's wrist. The detective looked over the bruising, his frown getting deeper as he looked at the shifting colors in the bruised area.
"The first time he contacted you was when?"
"About five weeks ago but I didn't get it until four weeks ago." Jensen answered.
"Were you away when it was left?" Garrett asked?
"My parents were here, and then I went out of town for a few days."
"Do you still have the recording?"
Jensen looked at Jared who nodded his head. Jensen had wanted to get rid of it but Jared wanted it in case Kylan did decide to show up.
"I have it back a the house. When one of the guys shows up I'll go get it." Jared explained.
"Devon said you didn't want security? Why is that?"
"Jensen would have had a shit fit if there was someone standing guard outside the door. Privacy in our world is hard won and the press can make up some wonderful lies to go with everyone's morning coffee. So I asked Dr. Patterson if me and some of our friends could stay instead," Jared explained.
"Makes sense. Now how about you tell me what happened in North Carolina. I have a statement from a Terrance Waters about some of Mr. Barclay's little hobbies, but I want to know what happened in that hotel room. You didn't press charges but it came up in the restraining order since the state pressed them for you." Garrett said. He didn't sound judgmental just stating facts that were in front of him.
"I know I should have pressed charges even if it wasn't for me, maybe someone else wouldn't have to go through this, but I was young and stupid. I just wanted it to be over and forget about him, when I left town and he didn't follow I thought it was over." Jensen sighed at the lost chance, guilt weighing his shoulders down.
"Hey, you were alone, and you didn't want your friends getting hurt. You're not perfect Jen, you did what you needed to do for you and sometimes that's all we can do," Jared reassured, rubbing his hands up and down Jensen's arms.
"I'm not here to judge you Jensen, no one has the right to say what another person should do in any given circumstance, especially when they're not in your shoes. People deal with things in all kinds of ways, that's why we have to be careful not to stereotype reactions to things. One person may cry, another get mad, some shut down completely and others disassociate. I make all my decisions based on what I can see, the pattern it fits as a whole and then where my gut leads me. Any policeman that says they don't use their gut is lying out their ass, especially ones who have been on the job awhile."
Jensen leaned back on the pillows, bringing one arm across his forehead, trying to relax some of the stress out of his shoulders.
"It was pretty normal to start off with you know, boy meets boy, boys like each other and start going out. He'd gotten a little possessive after a few weeks usually when we went out, so I just thought, hell, it'd be easier to stay in. Then it was the emails from friends and if the phone rang he wanted to know who it was, when Terry told me about the bet and all the others that had come before me I'd had enough."
"I took him to his hotel because I didn't want a great big scene in public. I didn't figure anyone would know who I was, but I just don't think that's something that needs to be discussed in public. Anyway, he wasn't pleased when I told him it was over, and that I didn't want anything to do with him. I went to leave and he hit me with one of those mag light things they can use underwater. Heavy fucker, it rang my bell pretty good. He took the opportunity of me being down to do some free pounding, got in a few good kicks, when he thought I was out enough not to put up a fight I guess he decided he'd get in one more fuck you." Jensen trailed off.
"I've read over the reports, you got in a few shots and made them count, probably the only thing that kept him from getting further. According to this Terrance, it was a normal part of his M.O. When he was in town, he’d pick a girl or guy and see how far he could go. One of the detectives down there in North Carolina who took an instant dislike to the guy, started doing some digging with the help of Terrance's list of dates and places. Officer Mallory, that's the fella that did the legwork, found out Kylan usually went for the unique, always something just a little more special about them. He said it wasn't always their looks, maybe their jobs or their personalities but there was always that one little thing that set them apart."
Jensen sighed, "How many has he beat the hell out of, or was I just extra special?"
Garrett shook his head, "No you're not the only one things got physical with, but you are the only one, he put in the hospital. I'm guessing no one else fought back though. The most troubling case is one in Australia, a young woman he'd been seeing hasn't been heard from in over three years. From what Officer Mallory could piece together, Kylan was courting her fast and furious. Her co-workers said they didn't notice anything off but then the young lady was a very private person. They were worried when she didn't show up for work after a long weekend so they called her emergency contact. Her parents said she was supposed to be out of town with her boyfriend."
"The boyfriend in question was one Kylan Barclay. He acknowledged that they were supposed to go over to one of the beaches, but that he got a call about a group of sharks traveling together, as far as he knew Alisha was going to stay at her apartment. Australian police couldn't find any evidence of foul play, nothing linking Kylan to her disappearance, so were never able to charge him. They do have a standing flag on his passport so that if he enters the country they know about it, needless to say, they think he was involved but their hands are tied." Garrett finished looking up at the Jensen's face which had gone completely white. Jared's wasn't much darker either.
"They think he killed her?" Jared finally asked.
"Her credit cards haven't been used, none of her money has been withdrawn from her bank, usually a sign of a person no longer with the living. I'm not real happy with the no security guard but at the moment I'll let it be. Anything comes up that makes me twitchy, and I don't care how mad it makes you, someone will be outside your door or parked on your doorstep. I take folks under my protection very seriously, and since you're in my district, that means you." Garrett warned, as he stood.
"I'll be filing a report and dropping by here or your house to have you sign it. You remember anything else from before or yesterday, give me a call," he said, holding out his business card for Jensen to take.
Detective Patterson shook both men's hands and promised to get the ball rolling on trying to locate Kylan.
Jensen was very quiet after the detective left. Jared continued to watch as Jensen seemed to draw in on himself. When he couldn't take it anymore, he nudged until Jensen laid his head on his chest.
"Tell me," Jared demanded quietly.
"That girl could still be alive if I'd have said something." Jensen's voice shuddered out of him.
Jared had been afraid this was what had Jensen so quiet.
"Jensen, the state pressed the same charges you would have. They took it out of your hands, yes, but it doesn't change the fact that the same thing would have happened if you'd have done it."
"Yes, but I didn't. I was worried about what would happen if my friends and family found out. I didn't want anyone getting hurt because of me, Jared I was scared and all I could think about is how scared that girl must have been knowing she was going to die, knowing she'd never see her family again or get to say goodbye." Jensen voice broke and he buried his head in Jared's neck, his hand holding tight to Jared's shirt.
"Jensen, everyone gets scared, it's what makes us human and sane. We don't know for sure that's what happened to her. I'm not going to lie and say I don't think it's true, but we just don't know. I swear man, even if you'd have shouted it from the rooftops he'd have found someone else even if it wasn't that girl. He didn't rack up all the victims he's had by being an asshole, not to start off with. Cut yourself some slack. You were 24 years old, by yourself, in the hospital, and you'd been betrayed and almost sexually assaulted by someone you thought you could trust."
Jensen buried his face even closer, trying to breath Jared into his body. The scent and feel of him helping to ground and reassure him that he could survive anything. Jared pulled Jensen even closer, running his hands up and down Jensen's back, waiting for some of the tension to leave his boyfriend’s body. As Jensen started to relax the emotional and physical stress he'd been under started to take their toll, his eyes slowly drooping until they closed completely and his breathing evened out. Jared eased Jensen back onto the pillows but never released his hold. The detective's words echoed in his head over and over again.
He kissed Jensen's forehead, running his hand through the soft strands of light brown hair. Jared wouldn't survive if something happened to Jensen. He didn't care what it took, Kylan wasn't going to be a problem for anyone ever again.