Jensen/Jared - The Past Never Stays There - chapter 12b/14
Title : The Past Never Stays There - Chapter 12b/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 : 5346 this part - total 11264
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.
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 was eternally grateful she had said when and not if. Now if the doctor would just come out and give them some news on what was going on then he might be able to keep the water he'd been drinking down. He'd hoped they'd have some information before the rest of Jensen's family showed up, but ten minutes later when the elevator doors slid open and hurried footsteps rounded the corner, Jared met the worried eyes of Jensen's brother.
Josh's eyes flicked from his to the room. He hesitated and then looked back at Jared. His dad must have told him what room Jensen was in. Jared watched as Josh looked past him to his mom and then behind him to where Alan and Mack were eating up the distance between them. He looked back at the room one more time and Jared watched the almost physical battle he waged with himself to turn and head in their direction.
"Mom, Jared. What's going on?"
Donna slid over so Josh could sit down with her, but he just shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. Jared swallowed the lump in his throat at how very similar Jensen and Josh's body language actually was. Jensen had joked more than once that his parents couldn't tell them apart in the dark or a ball cap. Jared thought that was stretching it a little. There was no mistaking they were brothers, and they had the same body build really, but other than that, Jared had never really noticed any other similarities. Of course, he was probably biased, he didn't think anyone could come close to Jensen. However, watching Josh exhibit some of the exact same hand and facial gestures, not to mention the way he paced when he was frustrated and angry, it was downright eerie.
Jensen's dad had followed Josh while Mack slid into the seat next to her mom. Alan stood next to Josh, waiting for someone to explain why everyone was outside the room. Donna looked over at Jared, giving him the silent go ahead he assumed since he'd been in the room when everything went to hell.
"We don't really know. Donna went to get some food, and I was sitting with Jensen when his monitors started to go off and everyone started rushing in. The doctor went in about twenty minutes ago but no one's told us what's going on," Jared finished, watching Josh swing his body back around in the direction of his brother’s room.
Mack stifled a sob, burying her head in her mom's shoulder, and Alan placed his hand on Josh's shoulder. Jared could tell from the tense line of his body he was doing everything he could not to shrug it off and march himself down the hall and into Jensen's room. Luckily, the doors slid open and Dr. Patterson emerged looking like he hadn't slept any more than Jared had. Truth be told, Jared didn't think he had, he knew Devon hadn't left the hospital since Jensen had been admitted. He introduced the doctor to Jensen's brother and sister and then waited for Devon to tell him what had happened and how Jensen was doing.
"I know you're all anxious to see Jensen, and as soon as I finish updating everyone then we'll let you in but I need for you all to understand what's happened and what we're doing." He waited for everyone to nod and then he leaned back in the chair Josh had pulled up for him.
"Jensen's body has been struggling to fight the infection that's been attacking it but in his weekend condition he's losing ground quickly. I spoke with Jared earlier about a course of treatment if we were presented with a worst case scenario and he gave me his permission to proceed if that time came. Unfortunately, we've hit that time, and I've already started the steps to take some of the stress off Jensen." Dr. Patterson paused to see if anyone had any question.
Jared took the opportunity to see how everyone had taken the news that he was making the decisions. Jared's parents didn't seem to be affected, their sole focus on their son's well being and casting worried looks at Mack. Jared wasn't sure, but he thought Jensen may have told them about the POA. Mack looked like she was still walking the fine line between jet lag and shock. He wasn't even sure she registered anything that didn't have Jensen's specific condition attached to it.
Josh, on the other hand was clearly surprised. He didn't necessarily seem mad, upset was probably a better description, but under the circumstances who wouldn't be. Jared didn't think he'd be any happier after he found out about the convulsions either, but he needed to ask the doctor what had caused them. However, before he could say anything, Donna was asking what was being done to help her son.
"Mrs. Ackles when I spoke to Jared earlier, I explained some things to him. Did he pass this information along?"
When both Donna and Alan nodded Devon continued, "As I told Jared, Jensen is fighting so hard, it's draining what little bit of energy reserves he has and making all his other organs work twice, maybe three times as hard. The monitors started going off because his body is trying to shut down and give him the rest he needs to keep fighting, but his body needs those organs to stay functioning at the same time. Think of it like a computer. It's trying to go off line and reboot to clear itself of a virus, and while a computer can just go through the restart function, a human body needs help to get those organs and systems going again and working correctly."
Devon waited to make sure everyone was keeping up. He worked hard not to speak technical jargon when talking to patients and families or the few occasions where he'd had to, the law enforcement community. He didn't always succeed, but he was getting better at it. Garrett had gotten tired of trying to understand him one afternoon at lunch and had started talking in police department code. He'd been so confused and frustrated trying to figure out what his twin was saying for the first time in.... ever, that the lesson had stuck.
"Why did he have the convulsions?" Jared finally asked, seeing no other way around it but to just blurt it out.
Devon paused as the question drew reaction from the members of Jensen's family that hadn't been present earlier. "His fever spiked, and it's not uncommon for the body to exhibit convulsions when this happens."
"How high is his fever," Josh asked.
Devon looked over at the man that had to be Jensen's brother. "We've gotten it back down to 104 but it shot up past 105. I've changed his dosage of antibiotic and put him on more fluids since he's sweating them out faster than we can keep them in right now. However, what I wanted to prepare you for, and what I had spoken with Jared about was that we have placed Jensen in an induced coma to give his body time to rest and heal. He's hooked to a ventilator to take the pressures off his lungs which are already overtaxed due to the pneumonia."
No one seemed particularly shocked by the situation but Devon knew once they saw Jensen hooked to the extra machines, and he'd already been attached to a fair few, that the reality of the situation would set in.
"You can bring him out of it right?" Mackenzie spoke for the first time.
"Yes, when his body has had time to rest, and we see an improvement in his condition, we'll start weaning him off the medicine that's keeping him in the coma," Devon reassured her. "Does anyone else have any questions?"
When there were none forthcoming, he stood up. "I'm going to let everyone in for fifteen minutes, and then we need to go back to the rotation we have set up. Jared do you want to show them in or would you like me to?"
Jared wasn't honestly sure he'd be able to handle seeing Jensen with a tube down his throat anymore than the rest of them, but he'd at least gotten a good visual during the beginning of the second season to brace himself with. "I'll take them."
Everyone followed Jared into the room. He hadn't even noticed the nurses and other medical staff leaving when they'd been talking to Devon. The room though was quiet except for the machines monitoring and breathing for Jensen. All the extra equipment Jared had seen hauled in and out had either been removed or put away. He pulled the curtain back slowly, afraid to look, but needing to see Jensen at the same time. He could hear Mack crying softly behind him, and he stepped aside so Jensen's parents and sister could get to the bed.
Josh stood, taking in the damage done to his brother, and turned and walked out of the room. Jared glanced over at Alan who nodded so he followed Josh out into the hallway. He found him with his head against the wall, taking deep breaths in, and letting them out slowly. Jared thought he might be trying to keep from breaking down, but when Josh looked his way, he could see that wasn't the case at all.
"They've got him right?"
"Got who?" Jared asked.
"The guy that did that. Dad didn't say much about what happened, just that the guy was caught. I didn't get the whole story because Mack was a wreck, but I'm going to want to hear all of it. For now, though, I'll settle for you telling me again they got him."
"Yeah, they got him, and I'll tell you the whole story whenever you’re ready."
"Okay, let's get back in there then. I'm going to try and get mom and dad to take Mack to the hotel and get some sleep. They're going to need it. There's no way she's going to stay by herself, and I don't think they'll want her to anyway."
It took some convincing, but after a half an hour of debate, Jensen's parents left with Mack, promising to be back bright and early in the morning with breakfast. Jared and Josh both promised to call if anything changed after Jared spent a few minutes trying to locate his cell which he'd left on the sink in the bathroom. He still couldn't figure out why it was there, but given his lack of sleep, he was lucky he hadn't found it in the trash. The nurses had pushed in two reclining chairs after they'd both been caught dozing, and almost fell out of the hard plastic ones when the nurse had given them a heart attack on her routine rounds. Jared's legs still stuck out over the end which made Josh snort, but they were a hell of a lot more comfortable than the torture devices they'd been in earlier.
Sometime through the night when neither one of them could sleep more than thirty minutes in a stretch, Jared told Josh everything that had happened from the first phone call from Kylan to just before he arrived at the hospital. Josh listened, only asking questions twice, but when Jared finished talking, Josh asked him if he knew how Jensen met Kylan. Jared wasn't sure it was really his story to tell, but he needed to talk about everything that had happened and Josh needed answers, so he decided it was better than Jensen's parents having to explain it when they hadn't known at the time either.
Josh shook his head sadly when Jared told him how his brother had met Kylan and the end result of their relationship. He did smile though when Jared told him Jensen kicked his ass, although it was tempered by the fact that he'd almost been sexually assaulted.
"He's always been quiet," Josh said softly. "I used to try to get him to do more things until I realized he was so damn shy, and then I would try to include him in things that I knew he'd never do on his own. I guess it worked some, I mean, he liked sports, was on several teams, but he still stayed in his shell even when people around him didn't realize it. He always was good at hiding what he didn't want you to see."
"Is there a reason he thinks he has to do everything himself?" Jared asked.
Josh snorted, "Other than the complete control freak in him, I don't know maybe. We weren't anymore competitive than any other set of siblings, brothers, especially. Sometimes, I think it's still him not wanting to speak up, not wanting to be the center of attention, or being the cause of any trouble. I could always tell when he was keeping a secret by looking at him, but it's impossible over the phone. I just can't tell if he's holding something back."
"I've gotten better at it, but I have to watch his eyes. Sometimes, him being so damn good at the acting thing sucks." Jared complained.
"Yeah, well, I've had a few years more to practice," Josh said, squirming around in the chair, trying to find a more comfortable position. "So why did the doctor ask you about Jensen's treatment instead of mom and dad?"
Jared leaned up and looked over at Josh, who looked back at him curiously and just waited.
"I have power of attorney over Jensen's medical decisions, just like he has over mine. I think your parents know, they didn't seem surprised anyway. I told my parents right after I changed mine."
"Is this a new thing? I mean, since ya'll started seeing each other?"
"No, actually it happened right after I broke my hand in that bar fight. Eric had been grumbling about red tape and Jensen got to thinking about what would happen if something serious happened while all the decision makers were so far away. He asked me if I'd be comfortable with him giving me POA if anything happened, and he couldn't speak for himself. I asked him to give me a few days to think about it."
"Why'd you want to think about it?"
"I wanted to see what it entailed, and if he was going to do it, I thought it might be a good idea for me to do the same. It wasn't like I had anyone up here either, but I wanted time to check it out. I could have just asked him for his research and saved myself the time because when I told him that, yeah, I would if he'd do the same for me, he pulled out this thick folder of stuff and started going through it."
Josh laughed, "Sounds like him. Never could just do something without thinking it to death."
"Well, it doesn't happen often, but he does have his spontaneous moments. Of course, we probably wouldn't have made it out of the plane crash if he hadn't been as prepared as he was," Jared reminded.
"Yeah, I know, but I'm his brother. I have to give him grief about something.... or actually pretty much anything."
Jared could hear the smile in his voice as he pulled the blanket up to his chin and drifted off.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The morning nurse showed up at 7:15 and Jared watched her with blurry eyes go about the business of checking Jensen's vitals and replacing the I.V.'s of fluids. When he asked about Jensen's fever, she told him it was holding steady at 104, but that it hadn't shot up overnight which was a good sign. Josh sat up beside him, scrubbing his face with his hand, trying to wake up.
"What time do you think your parents will come back?"
"I'm not sure. It was so late when they left. I'd say around nine maybe, why?"
"The nurse said there were visitors outside and there can only be two people in here at a time plus me which is why she let me know. I was just wondering if it was maybe your parents."
"She didn't say who they were?"
"No, I'm going to go see who it is. If it's some of the guys, they need to be told what happened anyway," Jared said, slipping his shoes on and stretching as he stood up.
"Okay, I'm going to hit the bathroom, and then I'm going to head downstairs and see if I can find a toothbrush. I didn't think to grab my overnight case before they left last night."
"Hey, if you find something open, grab me one too. I think I have fuzz growing on my tongue," Jared requested as he headed out the door, laughing at the disgusted face Josh made as he left.
Jared rounded the doorway and made his way to the waiting room to see who was there. He was hoping, really hoping, it was Chad or Michael, maybe even Tom, but when he opened the door, his suspicions were confirmed that it was, in fact, Steve and Chris. Jared did not want to have to explain what was going on with Jensen, but he realized he had little choice. There was no way he couldn't let them see their friend and he sure as hell wouldn't have them go in unprepared for what had happened after they left last night.
"Hey guys," Jared said, tiredly sitting down in the chair across from them.
"What's wrong?" Chris asked immediately.
Sometimes, Jared wondered if Chris was psychic. The man had the most disconcerting ability to know when things weren't as you wanted them to appear, and it was freaky as shit. Made playing poker with him an exercise in hell too.
Jared sighed and leaned back in the chair. "After Alan left to go pick up Josh and Mack at the airport, Jensen's fever spiked, and he started convulsing."
"What the fuck!" Chris exclaimed.
"Chris, let him finish," Steve replied calmly, reaching out and placing a hand on Chris' arm.
Jared could see the storm brewing in Steve's eyes, but Jared knew he was trying to keep Chris together. The knowledge was a painful echo of how Jensen always grounded him when he was bouncing around, and when Jensen needed to be pulled out of Dean's or his own head space Jared was there to do the same for him.
"Earlier, when Devon made his last rounds for the night, he warned me that Jensen’s body was wearing down, that decisions might have to be made if anything else happened or if Jensen didn’t start to improve soon." I was sitting there and his heart monitor shot up and then plummeted. After that, all of his monitors just started going off all at once. Anyway, when they finally go him stabilized, Devon came out and talked to us."
"Jared just cut to the chase tell us how Jensen is," Steve said as he smoothed his hand from Chris' elbow to wrist trying to keep him calm.
"Devon had to put him in an induced coma to give his body time to heal. He said that Jensen was fighting so hard his organs were over exerting themselves, and they were shutting down from the stress. He's on a ventilator. It's doing the breathing for him." Jared slumped down in his chair, taking a shaky breath.
Chris didn't say anything, just stood up and paced back and forth. They both watched him for a minute before Jared stood and asked if they wanted to go visit now or wait a few more minutes.
Steve looked at Chris and waited for him to turn pained blue eyes in his direction. "We can go now. Who’s in there with him now?"
"Josh, but he's going to run downstairs while you're in there," Jared said.
They stopped at the nurses station so Jared could let them know that Chris and Steve were going in and that Josh would be coming out as soon as they got back to the room. No one had been willing to leave Jensen on his own at any time except when Jared had been made to leave when everything had gone off. Josh stood up as they entered the room, and Chris pulled him into a hug, neither speaking.
Steve just stood back with Jared, letting the two give each other silent support. He always forgot that Chris had known Josh when he lived in Texas. He knew they had all hung out together when they were growing up, but it never failed to jolt him. Jensen was one of those people that fit in to whatever crowd he was with at the time. He could relate to kids ten years younger or men twenty years his senior. Josh glanced over and gave them a weak smile. He met Steve halfway, giving him a similar welcome and then promised to be back in a little while.
Chris was already standing by Jensen's bed, rubbing his hand over the blankets, smoothing the non-existent creases. He hadn't thought his friend could look any worse than he had the night before, but the tube running down Jensen's throat and the artificial breaths pushing his chest to rise and fall was a grim reminder that again he was very wrong. Chris let Steve pull him down into one of the chairs, and he listened as Jared told Steve about the reports through the night the nurses had given them.
When Josh came back, Chris kissed Steve on the forehead and told him he was going to step outside and get some air while they stayed with Jensen, and he'd let him know when he was back. Steve looked worried but gave in when Chris promised to bring coffee back for everyone.
Chris had talked to Detective Patterson the night before, Steve’s unanswered question about Kylan’s whereabouts still nagging at him. Garrett was reluctant to say anything, worried that he would do something stupid. After Chris explained that Steve was having nightmares and knowing where Kylan was might help, Garrett relented. The detective told Chris that he was at the hospital under 24 hour guard, but they were expecting to move him to a jail cell the following afternoon.
Chris asked Garrett if he'd let him know when that was finished so he could reassure Steve as well as Jared and Jensen when he woke up. He hadn't lied about the nightmares. He’d watched Steve toss and turn for the past two days anytime he fell asleep. If he hadn't mentioned he was having his own night terrors, well, that wasn't really a lie was it?
The conversation played back out in Chris' head as he grabbed a white coat off the back of someone's chair and snagged a stethoscope and chart off a desk. He grabbed a couple of bottles and syringes off a cart as he walked past it and quickly made his way down a floor, stopping at the first nurses station he saw requesting the room number for Kylan Barclay. Once he had the room number, he took a moment to compose himself. He was an actor he could pull this off.
Chris smoothed his hair back into a tie, straightened his back, and adopted an air of belonging before he shortened his stride to crisp, economical movements. He came to a stop in front of a policeman sitting beside Kylan’s room. His name tag read Officer Jackson.
"Something I can do for you doctor?" The man asked, standing up and blocking his way.
"Just need to check in on the patient. Make sure we have his chart updated and his medical orders in place before he's released," Chris lied through his teeth. Tension zinged through his body as he waited. "Wouldn't want anything to keep his discharge from going smoothly."
"No, we wouldn't want that," the officer agreed as he gave Chris an appraising look.
Chris held his breath as the officer looked him over.
"Give me a yell if he gives you any problems," Officer Jackson said as he stepped to the side.
"I'll do that," Chris smiled, relaxing a fraction as he pushed the door open and stepping through.
He stood just inside the room as the door swung closed behind him. Chris didn't bother locking it. If Jackson wanted in, the lock wouldn't stop him. He took the opportunity to observe the man that had made their lives a living hell over the last few days. Kylan was lying on his side, his wrist cuffed to the bed. There was a pillow propped behind his back to give him support for his broken ribs and sore shoulder where it had been dislocated.
Chris wanted to rip him apart.
He approached the bed quietly, not wanting to wake Kylan until he was ready too. He carefully removed the nurses call button and placed it on the table out of reach before setting out the syringes and needles.
When he was ready, he grabbed the pillow support and yanked it from behind Kylan, a grim smile of pleasure spreading across his face at the pained gasp that escaped the animal as he fell backwards.
"What the hell?" Kylan wheezed through the pain.
"Oh, I'm sure you can figure that out all on your own," Chris said as he paced around the head of the bed just out of direct eye sight.
"Who the fuck are you and what do you want?"
Chris stepped around the side of the bed so Kylan could see him. "I think you know exactly who I am, and I'm sure you can guess what I want. Don't bother looking for the call button. You can't reach it. As for yelling for the nice policeman, well, let's just say the nice officer thinks I'm a doctor, said something about grabbing a coffee while I was in here with you. I told him to go right ahead, I wouldn't dare leave you unattended."
"You won't get away with it!"
"I won't get away with what? What do you think I'm going to do to you Kylan? Maybe you think I'm going to torture you the way you had planned for Jensen," Chris mused, running his fingers over the different needles and picking up each bottle of drugs.
"Or maybe you think I'm going to go for a more charged experience," Chris flipped the switch on the defibrillator hanging from the wall.
Kylan tried to move further back on the bed, only to come up short when the handcuff wouldn't let him get very far. He watched Chris with wild eyes as he picked up a needle and flicked the top off, drawing back the plunger and filling the cylinder with air.
"Maybe I'll just shoot your veins full of air and watch the bubbles make their way to your heart," Chris smiled, approaching the bed.
"Please don't," Kylan begged.
"Is that what Jensen said? Is that what that poor girl said?" Chris growled, bending down to get in Kylan's face.
"On second thought, I know Jensen didn't beg. I bet that pissed you off didn't it?" Chris taunted. "Not as pissed off as coming back and finding he'd gotten away, though. You were going to make him do everything your perverted little mind had dreamed up, weren't you, but he fucked you over and got himself out before you could have playtime. How mad did that make you?"
Kylan's nostrils flared as Chris' taunts hit dead on each time. Chris could tell he'd started to recover from the shock of waking up and finding one of Jensen's friends in his room. He couldn't hold back the smirk as Kylan struggled to find a position that was more comfortable, finally giving up, grimacing at the pain the awkward angle had on his ribs and shoulder.
"You don't know what you're talking about. Jensen's mine! He's always been mine," Kylan boasted.
"Jensen hasn't ever been anyone's. He's not property. He hasn't had anything to do with you for years. The man had to get a restraining order and leave the damn country just to get rid of you. Which part of that sounds like he wants anything to do with you?" Chris growled, disgusted.
"You don't understand! We have a very unique relationship," Kylan spat out. "Jensen needs me to control him. He runs, I chase. That's how he likes it, but it was time for him to stay still. That's one of the lessons he has to learn."
"Unique my ass, you freak! You drugged him, transported him to a cabin and assaulted him! That's not a relationship that’s fucking kidnapping!
"Like I said, you wouldn't understand, and your friends interrupted before Jensen could find his way back and we could finish our lesson."
Chris ground his teeth together. He'd been clenching his fists together so tight that he'd lost the feeling in them. He slowly opened and closed them, flexing his fingers to return the circulation and to give himself time to calm down.
"I think the only lesson that's going to be learned is how quickly they can put your ass away." Chris leaned down and grabbed the front of Kylan's hospital gown in his fist. "What you did to Jensen was bad enough, but what you did to Steve...." he trailed off.
Chris could see traces of fear and uncertainty sneaking into Kylan's eyes even as he kept a calm facade.
"There's enough insulin over there to send you into a diabetic coma, and I want to do it so bad I can taste it, but there's two reasons I'm going to leave this room without making you a pin cushion."
Kylan's eyes flicked from the bottles back to Chris' face, inches from his own.
"I refuse to give Jensen any reason to feel guilty, and we both know that if I did anything to you, I'd find my ass in a world of trouble. Jensen being who he is wouldn't blame you. No, he would blame himself, and I'm not going to give him the bullets to go in the gun. Best of all, though, is I have the thing you want most, someone that loves me and I'm not leaving him, not for a piece of shit like you." Chris pulled back, patting Kylan’s chest, putting a little more force behind it than strictly necessary smiling at the grimace that crossed Kylans face.
"Now, don't think that you're going to get away without a parting gift from me," Chris said as he gathered up the vials and needles. "No, I'm going to make sure that whatever prison you go to, wherever you are, I'm going to know about it.
Chris stopped in front of the bed so he could look Kylan in the eye. "See here's the thing about prison, and I'm sure you know a fair bit about it too, but they have a system there. The big boys now, they're going to fight over you, with all that dark hair and those eyes, and we're not even talking about that toned body. Yeah, you're going to make someone a real pretty prison bitch, but see, if you know the right people, give them the right incentive, they don't mind sharing they're bitch around the yard."
Chris smiled as he watched the color drain from Kylan's face. "I got to tell you I do pretty good for myself, got some things coming up, and well, I think I can afford to spread some incentive around. Did Jensen ever tell you just how good I am at the things that mean the most to me?"
Chris turned as he reached the door, "No? Well, I'm sure you'll find that out first hand, because Kylan, I will be spreading that incentive around."