The Ackles Live on Stage Part 3
It’s only a three hours later that Jamie’s voice over the intercom waking Jared from a dead sleep. “Daddy? Jared? Can I come cuddle?”
Jensen hit the button and said, “I’m coming to get you, baby.” He climbed over Jared, with a groan.
“I would make grabby hands at your gorgeous ass,” Jared yawned, “but I am so tired.”
Jensen just nodded, “Move more into the bed so that Jamie and I can just fall in.” Jared slowly wiggled to the other side as Jensen unclipped the lee cloth. Jensen came back a few moments later leading Jamie by the hand. Jamie climbed in so that he was between them. He threw an arm over Jared and went straight back to sleep. “I’m gonna be so sad when he stops wanting to snuggle.” Jensen kissed Jared, re-clipped the lee cloth and cuddled up close to them.
Later Jamie started moving which woke Jared up. Jamie was looking at him. “Usually you’re up first,” Jamie said softly.
“We stayed up too late,” said Jared.
“Were you doing something fun?”
“No, just talking.” Jared hugged Jamie close. “Are you ready to get up?” Jamie nodded. Jared nudged Jensen’s leg. “Jen, move a little so we can get up.” Jensen pulled his legs up to his chest so that if they scooted to the end of the bed they could get out. They did and then Jared kissed Jensen’s forehead, “Thanks, go back to sleep.” Jensen mumbled something and rolled over. He and Jamie brushed their teeth and dressed. They headed down to craft for breakfast with the dogs. Jared fed them their kibble while he and Jamie had pancakes and bacon. Jensen’s parents joined them after a little while and asked where he was. “Asleep, we stayed up too late.”
Afterwards he woke Jensen up saying, “Jen, you gotta wake up if you want some coffee before we go to the archeology site.”
“Time is it?” asked Jensen stretching.
“A little after ten.” He kissed Jensen gently. “How are you?”
Jensen nodded groggily, “I’m good. Thanks for listening last night.”
“Thanks for telling me. It means a lot.” Jensen gave him a sheepish grin. “Seriously, Jensen, thank you. I know it was hard.”
They fell into an easy rhythm after that. Every day they would go to some tourist spot and every evening his boys would rock out on stage. They would Skype home to Annie and all their parents sometimes Jamie would Skype with Tim and Daniel. They agreed to do the extra classical concert and stopped playing any classical music in the pop/rock/low country rock concerts. Most afternoons they would play with the karaoke system which was actually cleverly disguised vocal warm-ups but Jamie had fun so it wasn’t work. Every night Jared would stand backstage and just enjoy watching them. And Jensen would come off stage wired and, after putting Jamie to bed, he would take Jared hard and long.
Jared set things in motion for Misha to be on the show. Jensen donated a large sum of money to Misha’s charity to appease his guilt even though Jared could see his point. It was early in the work day a few days after he’d seen Misha when Jared called Sandy. At first Sandy seemed pissed about it and Jared couldn’t figure it out until she said, “So should I book connecting rooms or should I go all out and book a Californian king?”
“Whoa, no, back up,” said Jared. “Dude, I’m helping out a friend who needs money. I’m not asking you to arrange a two week booty call. I’m not fucking about on Jen. He knows about it.”
She sighed, “Oh thank Christ. Sorry, sorry. Okay, yeah, I’ll set it up. From the tenth to the twenty-second.”
“Thank you. Also, Jensen was saying maybe we can use him for paternity leave as opposed to needing to take a break?”
“No, it’s your show, no. Branding would be a nightmare. Scrappy Doo didn’t really suck as a character; he sucked because he was added to the Scoobies too late in the game. I like Misha, I get why you want to help him, but I’m not very happy about this. This is your last season and you can’t have a sub.”
He nodded, “Okay, thank you.”
Sighing she said, “How’s the tour?”
“The coolest road trip ever. We’re having a great time.” Jamie came downstairs in a bathing suit. “I have to go, Sandy, the hotel that the orchestra is staying in has an outside pool. I need to work on my tan if you want me to look pretty on TV.”
It was nice being on vacation with his boys and Jensen’s parents. There had already been a lot of interviews with the film crew. And the camera crew shot a lot of the time. They were used to having the cameras all around them and Jared didn’t even really notice them anymore. They were rolling the night Jared had to leave so were Jensen’s parents. At the craft services they were eating dinner while Jensen’s parents were packing and Jamie said, “We’re going to miss you, Jared.”
Jared gave him a one armed hug, “I’m going to miss you too. But guess what? You’ll be on stage and you won’t even miss me. Then tomorrow morning I’m going to be awake long before you to go to the market: you won’t miss me as you’ll be asleep. I’ll go to the market so Elisha can sleep in because she’s been having to run the restaurant by herself as I’m here and Paris is in LA. And then I’m going with Annie to the baby doctor. We’re going to Skype, so you’ll be able to see the twins. We’ll find out if your siblings are boys or girls or one of each. Isn’t that cool?” Jamie nodded. “Then we’ll go to lunch at the restaurant to celebrate knowing the babies’ genders. Then I’ll cook dinner so Elisha can have a night off and I’ll be thinking of you boys because you’ll be on stage. Then the next morning I’ll do the market so Elisha can have another morning off. Then I’ll shower and fly back to you by early afternoon. It’s less than two days. Blink and I’ll be back. You’ll take good care of Harley and Sadie for me, right?”
Jamie nodded, “But why do you have to go? You’re going to miss good stuff. Can’t you just be with us while we Skype her?”
Jensen laughed, “Annie is carrying your siblings. One of the parents has to be with her because right now Jason isn’t even home: he’s touring. She’s freaking out because she’s never been pregnant before, and they’re twins and she’s already very pregnant at fifteen weeks. She’s freaking out and saying, ‘I’m only the surrogate.’ She needs Jared or me to hold her hand. As I need to be here to be on stage Jared has to go home.”
Jamie sighed, “Okay. Will you kiss Annie for me?”
“Absolutely.” He saw Jensen’s parents coming towards them and looked at his watch, “It’s time to go.” He hugged Jamie and kissed his cheek, “Have an awesome time, I’ll be back soon. Love you, baby.” He stood and went to Jensen and kissed him slowly, memorizing his mouth the way he did when he had to go away for the show. “I love you. Call me before bed?”
Jensen shook his head, “Call me when you land. I won’t be happy until I know you’re on the ground.”
“Okay, the minute I land.” He kissed Jensen again. “Have fun on stage.”
“Always do. Have fun cooking; I know you’re going through withdrawal.”
Jared smiled, “A little bit. You don’t get to be a nationally ranked chef without being a cooking junky.” He felt his grin widen, “I’ll see you boys soon.” He patted Harley and Sadie, “Be good, babies.” The Ackles had waited a ways off to give them time to say goodbye privately. As he went to them he held out his hands for the two bags Alan was carrying. “I’ll take those to the car.” The dogs started to follow him, “Babies, stay.” They looked between him and the boys. “Stay.” Finally they sat back down. “I’ll see you in two days.” He went out of the tent that had been set up and went straight to the waiting SUV where a driver instantly took the bags from him. “Thanks, my in-laws are coming soon. They’re just saying goodbye to my boys.”
The flight was quiet. And Jared sat with the Ackles reading a cookbook. It was the first time he’s ever been alone with them for more than an hour and it was nice. They talked a lot about the babies and about the appointment the next day. Alan asked him about his restaurant how exactly one opened their own restaurant. Jared could feel himself grinning and said, “It’s money, luck and effort. The money is why so few chefs own their own restaurants. I worked in other people’s restaurants and I saved a lot of money by still living with Chad. All the time I was entering cooking contests to win money and learn. And it was good, I learned a lot about myself as a chef. I took a lot of classes on the side. I wasn’t a pastry chef so I went to a lot of master classes so that I could learn it. Plus, from working in restaurants I learned what I didn’t want my restaurant to be like. I was six months out of school, and three months into my first job. I over cooked someone’s steak and the head chef threw a three thousand dollar Univex mixer at my head. When you mess up that big you are already ashamed and embarrassed what you need is help to recover and fix the problem not having huge lumps of metal launched at you. His kitchen was no fun, it was miserable, and I just thought that it was wrong. I hated my job and I knew when I got a restaurant of my own it would be fun. From all the competitions I got my show. We shot the first and second season of the show all at once. It was forty-four episodes in eighty days and with the money I was able to start the restaurant and hire my best friends. My kitchen is fun, hard work and adrenaline. We have music and talking all the time. And if anyone ever threw anything in anger they would be out the door before the end of the sitting. So I’m excited that this is the last season of the show because I love being in my kitchen. This fall we’ll shoot the sixth season of the show and the restaurant will have been open for five years.”
“I’ve never really liked being in the kitchen,” said Donna. “I do quick cooking or slow things I don’t have to pay attention to. I don’t enjoy cooking very much.”
“My momma used to say that I lived to eat I didn’t eat to live. When I cook time stops; I love it. Before I met the boys any time the show wasn’t shooting I was in the kitchen all the time. That’s part of the reason I’m glad the show’s ending. It eats up a lot of time that I could be with my boys or in my kitchen. With the babies coming I’m glad the show is coming to an end.”
“But you like being famous,” said Alan and Jared laughed.
Shaking his head he said, “I’m both more and less vain than everyone thinks. I do really love being famous but not being on TV won’t bother me that much. A) I’ll still be famous as the head chef of the best restaurant in the Dallas area. I’m a nationally ranked chef. People in the business will still know who I am and I don’t really need to be a celebrity to be famous. B) I’ll never get old on TV. On film I’ll always be somewhere between twenty-two and twenty-seven.” Both the others laughed at him. “Yeah, well, who wouldn’t want to have some of their best looking years on tape?”
They turned back to pregnancy and Mack and Annie. Soon enough they landed and Jared whipped out his cell phone and called Jensen. He knew Jensen would be on stage but he left a message, “Hey, Jen. We just touched down all safe and sound. Hope you’re having fun being sexy on stage. Call me later. Love you.” He thought he was speaking softly but he ears hadn’t popped yet and the Ackles were smirking at him so he assumed that they’d heard his sexy comment and he felt himself blush. Jared didn’t have any luggage as he was only going to be away for forty-five hours but he went with them and grabbed their stuff off the conveyor belt for them because he had super long, useful arms. They went out to the gate and Jared instantly spotted LeAnn’s mother and, with his height, she instantly saw him too and waved. Jared was still carrying one of the Ackles’ bags so he walked over with them and hugged LeAnn’s momma.
Then he saw Chad just before the man jumped on him and started giving him a nuggie and not for the first time he said, “Hey, how are you not the gay one?” He pushed Chad off of him. He quickly said goodbye the adults before Chad could say anything disgusting like, “Because I like pussy.”
They went to Chad’s car and Chad said, “How are your boys?”
“Having a wonderful time on tour. They’re so awesome, y’know? They keep playing to bigger and bigger audiences and they’re so captivating that it just works. I love watching them on stage. And each time we change locations Jensen makes sure there is some cool or hilarious lame tourist place for us to go to. How’s your movie going?”
Chad groaned, “The cool thing about making movies,” He rolled his eyes and said, “-other than the awards, obviously - is getting to go on location and see new places. We’re shooting in fucking Dallas. How shit-fucking dull is that? I thought at least I would get to be with my girl. She’s supposed to be teaching summer school and now her mom got sick and Sophia flew home to Pasadena, like, six days ago. I could have been in fucking LA, man.”
“Dude, I’m sorry.”
“Fucking sucks, dude. So tomorrow you find out if the babies are chicks, dudes or a set, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Call me right after?”
“First person after blood, I swear.”
“Cool, want to get a couple of drinks?”
“Dude, I want to change out of airplane smelling clothes and chill out in the pool.”
Chad looked a little sad, “I totally get it.”
“Let’s swing by your place to grab your suit?”
Chad beamed, “Totally. Leesh made me some really good salsa. She said I don’t eat anything healthy when Sophia’s away.”
“Senior year you did. And freshman year of life.”
“Yeah, but I lived with a fucking chef who was eventually going to be super famous.”
Jared laughed, “That’s true. It’s a good thing you eat anything I put in front of you ‘cause we had no money.”
“Yeah, but we had a lot of fun… I can’t believe you’re going to be a dad.”
“I know, man. I feel really grownup.”
“Yeah, man, scary. But really cool. Plus, you know what’s awesome about twins?”
“Are you about to say something disgusting? Is this about you’re theory that all attractive twins should make porn no matter the gender combination?”
Chad laughed, “Even I wouldn’t say that about your kids. No, the great thing about twins is that there’s always one available for cuddling. You know I love babies.” Chad really was fantastic with little kids. “So what are you hoping for? Sex wise?”
Jared didn’t understand the question and hazarded a guess at what Chad was talking about, “Hot blowjobs, inventive positions and for Jensen to never accidentally come in my eye because that hurts like a bitch.”
“No, you retard, the genders of the babies.”
“Oh! I don’t care; healthy that’s all I care about.”
They slipped into silence and after a while Chad said, “Are you okay, Jay?”
Jared thought he knew where Chad was going. Years of practice told him what Chad meant. But he played dumb and said, “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, fucktard, there is quite a lot of evidence which you haven’t covered up. Plus, usually when I ask if you’re okay you say that you’re fine. As you didn’t say that, I’m thinking that things might be un-fine.”
“Okay,” Jared nodded. “And what am I supposed to be un-fine with?”
“Sandy called me and said that Misha was working with us. Which is fine but the fact that you didn’t tell me leads me back to un-fine. You tell me everything and you did not tell me about even seeing Misha. The only time you don’t tell me stuff is when you think I’m going to be angry. So what’s going on, Jay?”
Jared sighed, “Misha is going broke. I offered for him to come and work on the show for a while.” Chad nodded. “But I wasn’t really thinking and I didn’t ask Jen if he was cool with it first.” Chad hissed between his teeth. “Right so, when I did ask he was about to go on stage and he said it was cool. But then afterwards he said he wasn’t cool.”
“Motherfucker you’re retarded, Jay. You know that right?” Jared was about to speak when Chad said, “Shut your eyes.” Jared didn’t want to do that because Chad was a terrifying driver and Jared would rather see his death coming. “Do it.” Jared obeyed. “Okay, it’s five minutes ‘til the first dinner sitting. You went the market, you baked the bread, lunch went really well. Now it’s that moment: that tiny space of time, when it’s the lull right before it begins. Ring-ring, ‘Hi, Mr. Pedlicki.’ ‘Um, actually it’s Padalecki,’” his Jared impersonation was pretty spot on. “‘This is Police Sergeant Whateverthefuck, were you aware that your beloved convertible was stolen?’ ‘Uh, no, Officer. Was it found?’ ‘Yes, crashed into a wall and set on fire.’” Chad sighed, “What do you do, Jared?”
“Nothing the first sitting is about to begin.”
“Right. And what do you think about for the next five hours?”
“Food.”
“Does your car cross your mind even once?”
“No. Of course not I have way more important things to think about.”
“But what happens when the restaurant closes?”
“I lose my shit about my car.”
“You asked Jensen if he was cool with you hanging out with your hot ex five minutes before the first sitting.” Jared started to shake his head, as he opened his eyes. “Yes, you did, Jared.”
“No, I asked him while he was plating the first course. I know, I suck, that’s why I didn’t tell you. I suck.”
Chad patted his thigh, “You don’t suck: you’re just retarded. Jensen’s the best person you’ve ever dated. Misha was great and he was fun but he wasn’t exactly stable; the boy’s manic. It never would have worked in the long run. He’s a ‘once upon a time’ boyfriend, the nice ex that you can look back on fondly when other relationships blow up in your face. Jensen is your forever boy. Do not fuck this up, Jared. You’re about to have kids with him, he loves you. He’s got a dead wife and shit ton of bigotry in his past the last thing he needs is for you to do something stupid.”
“I wouldn’t-”
“No, but Misha might. Takes two to tango, it only takes one to grope. If anything were to ever happen between you and Jensen you get me in the divorce but I would resent you for it. Don’t fuck it up for my sake. I don’t want to have to stop chilling with Jensen.”
“I’m not going to-”
“And, I’m a little pissed at you. It’s our last season and now it’s not just you, Mike, the crew and me. I was wrong: you do suck a little bit.”
“I made up with, Jen, we’re good. Jensen and I are fine as a couple and it’s only two weeks with Misha, then it will just be us. We’re doing thirty episodes as it’s the last season, we have lots of time for just us.”
Chad was silent as they pulled into his driveway, “Don’t fuck it up, retard, I like Jensen.”
“It’s only two weeks, Chad,” he said as they climbed out of the car.
“Yeah, I know. But I need you guys to be okay.”
“Are you okay?” asked Jared feeling concerned. Then he remembered, “You haven’t called me, weren’t you going to propose again?” Just like Jared didn’t tell Chad stuff when he thought Chad would get angry, Chad didn’t tell Jared stuff he thought would make Jared sad.
Chad didn’t say anything until they were inside the house, “So a couple of days after you left I took Sophia to this super romantic park by us. You know the one with the lake?”
“Yeah.” Joe, TumTum and Axel are instantly on him, giving him awesome dog affection.
Chad watched his dogs worship Jared and said, “Paris helped me make a picnic dinner to bring out there.”
“Nice.”
“Thank you. I went out there. I set it all up, I had lit paper lanterns everywhere. The cinematographer in me was thrilled at how fucking wicked it was. The weather was perfect. She meets me out there for this perfect dinner and afterwards we‘re lying on the blanket, making out under the stars.”
“Again, nice.”
“Right? So we’re cuddling and she’s laughing because I’m being witty and shit. And I pull the ring box out and lean up and say, ‘Sophia, I want to do this for the rest of our lives.’ And she smiles and says, ‘I’m not ready.’ So we banged by the lake. She’ll say yes someday, yeah? It’s been over two years. She’s always saying she wants the same thing as me, she wants a big family, but I don’t know how long I have to wait. I’m one of six, dude, I want a fuck load of kids. And I’m just feeling like, I don’t know, I’m ready.”
“She’ll say yes. I don’t think she’s stringing you along.”
“Dude, if I was the girl in this relationship I would just get ‘accidentally’ knocked up and then she’d have to marry me.”
Jared laughed, knowing that Chad didn’t mean it. “She’ll say yes, give her more time.”
Chad nodded, “Yeah, I know. Let me grab some stuff.”
He left the dogs with Jared. Jared meanwhile raided Chad’s fridge for snacks. Elisha’s salsa was labeled with a list of ingredients and that made Jared chuckle. Back in school when so many tests were based on creating recipes they would test them out on their friends. Chad was never useful he would praise everything and act sort of nonchalantly about the culinary masterpieces they were creating. So eventually, just to make him appreciate how hard it was, he, Elisha and Paris would write out the recipes and serve them to Chad along with the dish. He still wasn’t a useful taster but at least he saw how much hard work was behind it. Although the recipe for the salsa was simple Elisha had still written it down. Mangos, blood oranges, jalapeños, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, sea salt, sugar, fresh pepper. It was Jamie safe so Jared put it in a bag. He checked all of the snacks not wanting to bring anything questionable anywhere near the house. He packed some corn chips and some freshly made mozzarella that he recognized as being from the restaurant. The mozzarella had a list of ingredients and the recipe on it all well but that list was in Paris’ handwriting.
Chad came out with a bag and said, “I have to get to set by five. Can I crash at your place?”
“Yeah, I have to do the market run tomorrow so I’ll be up early too.”
Chad whistled and the dogs who followed them out.
~~~
CONTINUE
Jensen hit the button and said, “I’m coming to get you, baby.” He climbed over Jared, with a groan.
“I would make grabby hands at your gorgeous ass,” Jared yawned, “but I am so tired.”
Jensen just nodded, “Move more into the bed so that Jamie and I can just fall in.” Jared slowly wiggled to the other side as Jensen unclipped the lee cloth. Jensen came back a few moments later leading Jamie by the hand. Jamie climbed in so that he was between them. He threw an arm over Jared and went straight back to sleep. “I’m gonna be so sad when he stops wanting to snuggle.” Jensen kissed Jared, re-clipped the lee cloth and cuddled up close to them.
Later Jamie started moving which woke Jared up. Jamie was looking at him. “Usually you’re up first,” Jamie said softly.
“We stayed up too late,” said Jared.
“Were you doing something fun?”
“No, just talking.” Jared hugged Jamie close. “Are you ready to get up?” Jamie nodded. Jared nudged Jensen’s leg. “Jen, move a little so we can get up.” Jensen pulled his legs up to his chest so that if they scooted to the end of the bed they could get out. They did and then Jared kissed Jensen’s forehead, “Thanks, go back to sleep.” Jensen mumbled something and rolled over. He and Jamie brushed their teeth and dressed. They headed down to craft for breakfast with the dogs. Jared fed them their kibble while he and Jamie had pancakes and bacon. Jensen’s parents joined them after a little while and asked where he was. “Asleep, we stayed up too late.”
Afterwards he woke Jensen up saying, “Jen, you gotta wake up if you want some coffee before we go to the archeology site.”
“Time is it?” asked Jensen stretching.
“A little after ten.” He kissed Jensen gently. “How are you?”
Jensen nodded groggily, “I’m good. Thanks for listening last night.”
“Thanks for telling me. It means a lot.” Jensen gave him a sheepish grin. “Seriously, Jensen, thank you. I know it was hard.”
They fell into an easy rhythm after that. Every day they would go to some tourist spot and every evening his boys would rock out on stage. They would Skype home to Annie and all their parents sometimes Jamie would Skype with Tim and Daniel. They agreed to do the extra classical concert and stopped playing any classical music in the pop/rock/low country rock concerts. Most afternoons they would play with the karaoke system which was actually cleverly disguised vocal warm-ups but Jamie had fun so it wasn’t work. Every night Jared would stand backstage and just enjoy watching them. And Jensen would come off stage wired and, after putting Jamie to bed, he would take Jared hard and long.
Jared set things in motion for Misha to be on the show. Jensen donated a large sum of money to Misha’s charity to appease his guilt even though Jared could see his point. It was early in the work day a few days after he’d seen Misha when Jared called Sandy. At first Sandy seemed pissed about it and Jared couldn’t figure it out until she said, “So should I book connecting rooms or should I go all out and book a Californian king?”
“Whoa, no, back up,” said Jared. “Dude, I’m helping out a friend who needs money. I’m not asking you to arrange a two week booty call. I’m not fucking about on Jen. He knows about it.”
She sighed, “Oh thank Christ. Sorry, sorry. Okay, yeah, I’ll set it up. From the tenth to the twenty-second.”
“Thank you. Also, Jensen was saying maybe we can use him for paternity leave as opposed to needing to take a break?”
“No, it’s your show, no. Branding would be a nightmare. Scrappy Doo didn’t really suck as a character; he sucked because he was added to the Scoobies too late in the game. I like Misha, I get why you want to help him, but I’m not very happy about this. This is your last season and you can’t have a sub.”
He nodded, “Okay, thank you.”
Sighing she said, “How’s the tour?”
“The coolest road trip ever. We’re having a great time.” Jamie came downstairs in a bathing suit. “I have to go, Sandy, the hotel that the orchestra is staying in has an outside pool. I need to work on my tan if you want me to look pretty on TV.”
It was nice being on vacation with his boys and Jensen’s parents. There had already been a lot of interviews with the film crew. And the camera crew shot a lot of the time. They were used to having the cameras all around them and Jared didn’t even really notice them anymore. They were rolling the night Jared had to leave so were Jensen’s parents. At the craft services they were eating dinner while Jensen’s parents were packing and Jamie said, “We’re going to miss you, Jared.”
Jared gave him a one armed hug, “I’m going to miss you too. But guess what? You’ll be on stage and you won’t even miss me. Then tomorrow morning I’m going to be awake long before you to go to the market: you won’t miss me as you’ll be asleep. I’ll go to the market so Elisha can sleep in because she’s been having to run the restaurant by herself as I’m here and Paris is in LA. And then I’m going with Annie to the baby doctor. We’re going to Skype, so you’ll be able to see the twins. We’ll find out if your siblings are boys or girls or one of each. Isn’t that cool?” Jamie nodded. “Then we’ll go to lunch at the restaurant to celebrate knowing the babies’ genders. Then I’ll cook dinner so Elisha can have a night off and I’ll be thinking of you boys because you’ll be on stage. Then the next morning I’ll do the market so Elisha can have another morning off. Then I’ll shower and fly back to you by early afternoon. It’s less than two days. Blink and I’ll be back. You’ll take good care of Harley and Sadie for me, right?”
Jamie nodded, “But why do you have to go? You’re going to miss good stuff. Can’t you just be with us while we Skype her?”
Jensen laughed, “Annie is carrying your siblings. One of the parents has to be with her because right now Jason isn’t even home: he’s touring. She’s freaking out because she’s never been pregnant before, and they’re twins and she’s already very pregnant at fifteen weeks. She’s freaking out and saying, ‘I’m only the surrogate.’ She needs Jared or me to hold her hand. As I need to be here to be on stage Jared has to go home.”
Jamie sighed, “Okay. Will you kiss Annie for me?”
“Absolutely.” He saw Jensen’s parents coming towards them and looked at his watch, “It’s time to go.” He hugged Jamie and kissed his cheek, “Have an awesome time, I’ll be back soon. Love you, baby.” He stood and went to Jensen and kissed him slowly, memorizing his mouth the way he did when he had to go away for the show. “I love you. Call me before bed?”
Jensen shook his head, “Call me when you land. I won’t be happy until I know you’re on the ground.”
“Okay, the minute I land.” He kissed Jensen again. “Have fun on stage.”
“Always do. Have fun cooking; I know you’re going through withdrawal.”
Jared smiled, “A little bit. You don’t get to be a nationally ranked chef without being a cooking junky.” He felt his grin widen, “I’ll see you boys soon.” He patted Harley and Sadie, “Be good, babies.” The Ackles had waited a ways off to give them time to say goodbye privately. As he went to them he held out his hands for the two bags Alan was carrying. “I’ll take those to the car.” The dogs started to follow him, “Babies, stay.” They looked between him and the boys. “Stay.” Finally they sat back down. “I’ll see you in two days.” He went out of the tent that had been set up and went straight to the waiting SUV where a driver instantly took the bags from him. “Thanks, my in-laws are coming soon. They’re just saying goodbye to my boys.”
The flight was quiet. And Jared sat with the Ackles reading a cookbook. It was the first time he’s ever been alone with them for more than an hour and it was nice. They talked a lot about the babies and about the appointment the next day. Alan asked him about his restaurant how exactly one opened their own restaurant. Jared could feel himself grinning and said, “It’s money, luck and effort. The money is why so few chefs own their own restaurants. I worked in other people’s restaurants and I saved a lot of money by still living with Chad. All the time I was entering cooking contests to win money and learn. And it was good, I learned a lot about myself as a chef. I took a lot of classes on the side. I wasn’t a pastry chef so I went to a lot of master classes so that I could learn it. Plus, from working in restaurants I learned what I didn’t want my restaurant to be like. I was six months out of school, and three months into my first job. I over cooked someone’s steak and the head chef threw a three thousand dollar Univex mixer at my head. When you mess up that big you are already ashamed and embarrassed what you need is help to recover and fix the problem not having huge lumps of metal launched at you. His kitchen was no fun, it was miserable, and I just thought that it was wrong. I hated my job and I knew when I got a restaurant of my own it would be fun. From all the competitions I got my show. We shot the first and second season of the show all at once. It was forty-four episodes in eighty days and with the money I was able to start the restaurant and hire my best friends. My kitchen is fun, hard work and adrenaline. We have music and talking all the time. And if anyone ever threw anything in anger they would be out the door before the end of the sitting. So I’m excited that this is the last season of the show because I love being in my kitchen. This fall we’ll shoot the sixth season of the show and the restaurant will have been open for five years.”
“I’ve never really liked being in the kitchen,” said Donna. “I do quick cooking or slow things I don’t have to pay attention to. I don’t enjoy cooking very much.”
“My momma used to say that I lived to eat I didn’t eat to live. When I cook time stops; I love it. Before I met the boys any time the show wasn’t shooting I was in the kitchen all the time. That’s part of the reason I’m glad the show’s ending. It eats up a lot of time that I could be with my boys or in my kitchen. With the babies coming I’m glad the show is coming to an end.”
“But you like being famous,” said Alan and Jared laughed.
Shaking his head he said, “I’m both more and less vain than everyone thinks. I do really love being famous but not being on TV won’t bother me that much. A) I’ll still be famous as the head chef of the best restaurant in the Dallas area. I’m a nationally ranked chef. People in the business will still know who I am and I don’t really need to be a celebrity to be famous. B) I’ll never get old on TV. On film I’ll always be somewhere between twenty-two and twenty-seven.” Both the others laughed at him. “Yeah, well, who wouldn’t want to have some of their best looking years on tape?”
They turned back to pregnancy and Mack and Annie. Soon enough they landed and Jared whipped out his cell phone and called Jensen. He knew Jensen would be on stage but he left a message, “Hey, Jen. We just touched down all safe and sound. Hope you’re having fun being sexy on stage. Call me later. Love you.” He thought he was speaking softly but he ears hadn’t popped yet and the Ackles were smirking at him so he assumed that they’d heard his sexy comment and he felt himself blush. Jared didn’t have any luggage as he was only going to be away for forty-five hours but he went with them and grabbed their stuff off the conveyor belt for them because he had super long, useful arms. They went out to the gate and Jared instantly spotted LeAnn’s mother and, with his height, she instantly saw him too and waved. Jared was still carrying one of the Ackles’ bags so he walked over with them and hugged LeAnn’s momma.
Then he saw Chad just before the man jumped on him and started giving him a nuggie and not for the first time he said, “Hey, how are you not the gay one?” He pushed Chad off of him. He quickly said goodbye the adults before Chad could say anything disgusting like, “Because I like pussy.”
They went to Chad’s car and Chad said, “How are your boys?”
“Having a wonderful time on tour. They’re so awesome, y’know? They keep playing to bigger and bigger audiences and they’re so captivating that it just works. I love watching them on stage. And each time we change locations Jensen makes sure there is some cool or hilarious lame tourist place for us to go to. How’s your movie going?”
Chad groaned, “The cool thing about making movies,” He rolled his eyes and said, “-other than the awards, obviously - is getting to go on location and see new places. We’re shooting in fucking Dallas. How shit-fucking dull is that? I thought at least I would get to be with my girl. She’s supposed to be teaching summer school and now her mom got sick and Sophia flew home to Pasadena, like, six days ago. I could have been in fucking LA, man.”
“Dude, I’m sorry.”
“Fucking sucks, dude. So tomorrow you find out if the babies are chicks, dudes or a set, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Call me right after?”
“First person after blood, I swear.”
“Cool, want to get a couple of drinks?”
“Dude, I want to change out of airplane smelling clothes and chill out in the pool.”
Chad looked a little sad, “I totally get it.”
“Let’s swing by your place to grab your suit?”
Chad beamed, “Totally. Leesh made me some really good salsa. She said I don’t eat anything healthy when Sophia’s away.”
“Senior year you did. And freshman year of life.”
“Yeah, but I lived with a fucking chef who was eventually going to be super famous.”
Jared laughed, “That’s true. It’s a good thing you eat anything I put in front of you ‘cause we had no money.”
“Yeah, but we had a lot of fun… I can’t believe you’re going to be a dad.”
“I know, man. I feel really grownup.”
“Yeah, man, scary. But really cool. Plus, you know what’s awesome about twins?”
“Are you about to say something disgusting? Is this about you’re theory that all attractive twins should make porn no matter the gender combination?”
Chad laughed, “Even I wouldn’t say that about your kids. No, the great thing about twins is that there’s always one available for cuddling. You know I love babies.” Chad really was fantastic with little kids. “So what are you hoping for? Sex wise?”
Jared didn’t understand the question and hazarded a guess at what Chad was talking about, “Hot blowjobs, inventive positions and for Jensen to never accidentally come in my eye because that hurts like a bitch.”
“No, you retard, the genders of the babies.”
“Oh! I don’t care; healthy that’s all I care about.”
They slipped into silence and after a while Chad said, “Are you okay, Jay?”
Jared thought he knew where Chad was going. Years of practice told him what Chad meant. But he played dumb and said, “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, fucktard, there is quite a lot of evidence which you haven’t covered up. Plus, usually when I ask if you’re okay you say that you’re fine. As you didn’t say that, I’m thinking that things might be un-fine.”
“Okay,” Jared nodded. “And what am I supposed to be un-fine with?”
“Sandy called me and said that Misha was working with us. Which is fine but the fact that you didn’t tell me leads me back to un-fine. You tell me everything and you did not tell me about even seeing Misha. The only time you don’t tell me stuff is when you think I’m going to be angry. So what’s going on, Jay?”
Jared sighed, “Misha is going broke. I offered for him to come and work on the show for a while.” Chad nodded. “But I wasn’t really thinking and I didn’t ask Jen if he was cool with it first.” Chad hissed between his teeth. “Right so, when I did ask he was about to go on stage and he said it was cool. But then afterwards he said he wasn’t cool.”
“Motherfucker you’re retarded, Jay. You know that right?” Jared was about to speak when Chad said, “Shut your eyes.” Jared didn’t want to do that because Chad was a terrifying driver and Jared would rather see his death coming. “Do it.” Jared obeyed. “Okay, it’s five minutes ‘til the first dinner sitting. You went the market, you baked the bread, lunch went really well. Now it’s that moment: that tiny space of time, when it’s the lull right before it begins. Ring-ring, ‘Hi, Mr. Pedlicki.’ ‘Um, actually it’s Padalecki,’” his Jared impersonation was pretty spot on. “‘This is Police Sergeant Whateverthefuck, were you aware that your beloved convertible was stolen?’ ‘Uh, no, Officer. Was it found?’ ‘Yes, crashed into a wall and set on fire.’” Chad sighed, “What do you do, Jared?”
“Nothing the first sitting is about to begin.”
“Right. And what do you think about for the next five hours?”
“Food.”
“Does your car cross your mind even once?”
“No. Of course not I have way more important things to think about.”
“But what happens when the restaurant closes?”
“I lose my shit about my car.”
“You asked Jensen if he was cool with you hanging out with your hot ex five minutes before the first sitting.” Jared started to shake his head, as he opened his eyes. “Yes, you did, Jared.”
“No, I asked him while he was plating the first course. I know, I suck, that’s why I didn’t tell you. I suck.”
Chad patted his thigh, “You don’t suck: you’re just retarded. Jensen’s the best person you’ve ever dated. Misha was great and he was fun but he wasn’t exactly stable; the boy’s manic. It never would have worked in the long run. He’s a ‘once upon a time’ boyfriend, the nice ex that you can look back on fondly when other relationships blow up in your face. Jensen is your forever boy. Do not fuck this up, Jared. You’re about to have kids with him, he loves you. He’s got a dead wife and shit ton of bigotry in his past the last thing he needs is for you to do something stupid.”
“I wouldn’t-”
“No, but Misha might. Takes two to tango, it only takes one to grope. If anything were to ever happen between you and Jensen you get me in the divorce but I would resent you for it. Don’t fuck it up for my sake. I don’t want to have to stop chilling with Jensen.”
“I’m not going to-”
“And, I’m a little pissed at you. It’s our last season and now it’s not just you, Mike, the crew and me. I was wrong: you do suck a little bit.”
“I made up with, Jen, we’re good. Jensen and I are fine as a couple and it’s only two weeks with Misha, then it will just be us. We’re doing thirty episodes as it’s the last season, we have lots of time for just us.”
Chad was silent as they pulled into his driveway, “Don’t fuck it up, retard, I like Jensen.”
“It’s only two weeks, Chad,” he said as they climbed out of the car.
“Yeah, I know. But I need you guys to be okay.”
“Are you okay?” asked Jared feeling concerned. Then he remembered, “You haven’t called me, weren’t you going to propose again?” Just like Jared didn’t tell Chad stuff when he thought Chad would get angry, Chad didn’t tell Jared stuff he thought would make Jared sad.
Chad didn’t say anything until they were inside the house, “So a couple of days after you left I took Sophia to this super romantic park by us. You know the one with the lake?”
“Yeah.” Joe, TumTum and Axel are instantly on him, giving him awesome dog affection.
Chad watched his dogs worship Jared and said, “Paris helped me make a picnic dinner to bring out there.”
“Nice.”
“Thank you. I went out there. I set it all up, I had lit paper lanterns everywhere. The cinematographer in me was thrilled at how fucking wicked it was. The weather was perfect. She meets me out there for this perfect dinner and afterwards we‘re lying on the blanket, making out under the stars.”
“Again, nice.”
“Right? So we’re cuddling and she’s laughing because I’m being witty and shit. And I pull the ring box out and lean up and say, ‘Sophia, I want to do this for the rest of our lives.’ And she smiles and says, ‘I’m not ready.’ So we banged by the lake. She’ll say yes someday, yeah? It’s been over two years. She’s always saying she wants the same thing as me, she wants a big family, but I don’t know how long I have to wait. I’m one of six, dude, I want a fuck load of kids. And I’m just feeling like, I don’t know, I’m ready.”
“She’ll say yes. I don’t think she’s stringing you along.”
“Dude, if I was the girl in this relationship I would just get ‘accidentally’ knocked up and then she’d have to marry me.”
Jared laughed, knowing that Chad didn’t mean it. “She’ll say yes, give her more time.”
Chad nodded, “Yeah, I know. Let me grab some stuff.”
He left the dogs with Jared. Jared meanwhile raided Chad’s fridge for snacks. Elisha’s salsa was labeled with a list of ingredients and that made Jared chuckle. Back in school when so many tests were based on creating recipes they would test them out on their friends. Chad was never useful he would praise everything and act sort of nonchalantly about the culinary masterpieces they were creating. So eventually, just to make him appreciate how hard it was, he, Elisha and Paris would write out the recipes and serve them to Chad along with the dish. He still wasn’t a useful taster but at least he saw how much hard work was behind it. Although the recipe for the salsa was simple Elisha had still written it down. Mangos, blood oranges, jalapeños, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, sea salt, sugar, fresh pepper. It was Jamie safe so Jared put it in a bag. He checked all of the snacks not wanting to bring anything questionable anywhere near the house. He packed some corn chips and some freshly made mozzarella that he recognized as being from the restaurant. The mozzarella had a list of ingredients and the recipe on it all well but that list was in Paris’ handwriting.
Chad came out with a bag and said, “I have to get to set by five. Can I crash at your place?”
“Yeah, I have to do the market run tomorrow so I’ll be up early too.”
Chad whistled and the dogs who followed them out.
~~~
CONTINUE