"Stained Glass Love" chapter 3
"Give me that!" Donna relieved Jensen of the jade buddha before he dropped it in his efforts to make Cat more comfortable. "Come and sit in the car with her while we wait for the police and ambulance to come. There's nothing you can do right now. They'll be here very soon. You'll see. I'll stay with Ty."
Wordlessly, Jensen turned around with Cat in his arms and walked out through the rain back to the car. Still stunned, he sat down in the back seat, took the plaid blanket lying there, and snuggled Cat into it.
Donna watched anxiously as her son left, then pulled herself together and looked around. She stepped over to the bedside alcove and took Jensen's quilt to drape over Ty. She checked his pulse again. Weak, but there. Other than that, there was nothing she could do but wait for the authorities.
Just as his mother had predicted, a flashing light and loud siren announced the arrival of the ambulance, and Jensen carefully placed his cat, now purring and apparently blissfully asleep in her blanket, in the back seat before getting out and leading the paramedics to the injured Ty in the ruins of what had been his studio.
Ty hadn't moved at all, but he was still breathing, and had a much better color, having been covered with Jensen's duvet. As he was being loaded into the ambulance, a squad car arrived bearing two uniformed police, and a further car with a man in plain clothes, who introduced himself as Detective Sergeant Pellegrino.
After a brief conversation with Jensen and the paramedics, the ambulance bore Ty away to the hospital. Donna offered to follow it with Jensen, and the detective told the two men in uniform to secure the scene and that he would talk to Jensen at the hospital.
"You can't take your cat into a hospital or leave it here," said Donna, sharply, summing up the situation. Noticing that Jensen looked like he was going to be sick, she quickly explained her solution to the current problems. "We'll call home, the cat can stay there. You change back into your day clothes. It will only take five minutes. Then we'll go to the hospital."
The detour added more like 20 minutes to the journey, but once Jensen was changed, Donna handed him her keys and told him to take her car. "Cat and I will be perfectly fine. Go!"
Jensen felt numb. He was baffled as to why someone would trash his workshop. It didn't make any sense to him.
Upon arriving back at the hospital he made his way to the emergency department and was told that Ty had been taken for X-rays prior to being admitted. He sat down to complete as much info as he could about Ty's medical history, only to be pounced on by the detective who wanted to know everything about the break-in.
There wasn't much he could tell the police. He'd arrived home to find his workshop in ruins, his colleague and best friend injured, and he had no idea why anyone would do such a thing.
"As far as I know, very few people even know about our business as yet. We're a new startup - just getting going with our first commission, and not really known. I'm from Dallas originally, but Ty isn't even from Texas. He's Canadian. We met in school." Jensen fell silent for a minute. "I just don't know what to tell you..." he said, finally.
Pellegrino nodded. He'd been making notes as Jensen spoke, but now he looked up. "So as far as you know, you haven't made any enemies, stepped on anyone's toes or that kind of thing?"
At Jensen's rejection of the idea, he leaned forward. "Is there anyone else involved in the company?" he asked.
"Just my friend Traci," said Jensen. "She does the administration mostly. She's learning to blow glass, but right now she's a beginner."
Nodding again, the detective rose to his feet. "I think that's pretty much all we can do tonight. Get some rest, and we'll see you at the workshop in the morning once it's daylight. I'm hoping your friend Ty will be able to tell us something when he wakes up."
"If he wakes up," muttered Jensen, gloomily. "I wish they'd come and tell me what's going on with him."
"I'm sure they will," Pellegrino said. "I'll see you tomorrow." He left and Jensen sat alone for a while, forlornly completing Ty's medical forms. There wasn't a lot he could add, so eventually he went to the reception desk to hand the form in and see what he could find out about his friend. Feeling slightly better after hearing that Ty didn't have a fractured skull, Jensen was told he wouldn't be permitted to see him until at least the next day, and that he should go home and get some sleep.
Grumpily, he drove back to his parent's house, to find Donna waiting up for him with freshly made hot chocolate and a litany of complaints about his cat.
"I tried to bathe her, and she gave me this," groused Donna, displaying a series of scratches on her arm that demonstrated all the fury of a cat that did not wish to be bathed.
"Mom, cats are self cleaning," said Jensen. "She was probably frightened to death, poor baby. Where is she now?"
"I don't know," admitted Donna. "She ran upstairs, and I was going to look for her, but then I heard you coming back and decided to wait and see if she came to claim you."
"I'd better go and find her, before she gets into any mischief." Jensen jumped up and made for the stairs in search of his errant pet. When he finally found her, she was sitting on his mom's vanity looking proud after having shoved everything off it. The floor around it was littered with assorted creams and cosmetics, and she was happily rubbing her face over Donna's hairbrush. Sighing, Jensen scooped her up and bore her away. "Come on, you fiend. Bedtime for both of us!"
Exhausted following the late night clean-up, Jared slept late, thankful that it was Sunday and he would be able to relax for the day. The previous evening had been amazing. Not only had his careful planning for the auction ensured it went with a bang, but he'd finally identified his beautiful stranger. Not only that, but he'd spoken to him, and although it was obvious that the object of his desire wasn't impressed, despite his attempts to win him over, Jared didn't mind. Jensen would come around in time. He just knew it.
It was almost 10am when he finally opened his eyes and fumbled for the remote on his nightstand, pressing the button to open the blinds and reveal the daylight. He squinted a little as his eyes got used to the brightness. The sky was beautifully blue, and all vestiges of the rain had disappeared at daybreak. Settling back against the pillows, he gave himself a few minutes to wake up, and allowed himself to daydream.
"Jensen," he said out loud, allowing his mouth to shape the word. "Jensen Ackles." Smiling a drowsy smile, he allowed himself to conjure a picture of Jensen, imagining him sitting on the bed beside him, his eyes promising secrets that made Jared shiver pleasantly.
His mind drifted back to the evening before. He'd watched Jensen from afar, noting the way he and his mom had interacted, taking in every little detail of Jensen's smile, of the way he used his hands when he spoke, and of the way he seemed to drop off to sleep later in the evening, his face relaxing as barely visible signs of stress were smoothed out. Jared's heart gave a little flutter. He wanted that face on the pillow beside him for... for the rest of his life, if it could be arranged.
Stretching until his spine cracked satisfactorily, Jared sat up, allowing his duvet to slither down off his torso to reveal his deep chest and his finely muscled abs. He ran his hands through wildly messy hair as he considered what he would have to do to win Jensen over.
Deciding to go out for breakfast, Jared hopped out of bed at last and went to take a quick shower. Suits were businesswear, and today was Sunday. Reaching for jeans, an old T-shirt and runners he headed off across town to his favorite bistro.
The rain from the night before had left everything feeling fresh, and the sun was hot on Jared's skin as he strolled into Joe's Bakery. He grabbed one of the complimentary newspapers provided by the restaurant and settled down with it, then ordered huevos rancheros and sipped a glass of juice as he waited for his food.
He was pleased to see that there was a write-up of the previous night's event, and began to read it, his mind wandering halfway through to thoughts of Jensen; wishing he was here, sitting beside him in the sunshine enjoying breakfast. He almost missed the smaller article beside it, dealing with a break-in, but suddenly his eyes caught on the name.
Jensen Ackles.
There could not be two people with that name. This had to mean that Jensen was in trouble, and something cold and ugly slithered down Jared's back at the thought that this must have happened while Jensen was at the auction. He shivered at the thought that Jensen could have been the one to end up in the hospital. He had to do something to help. He needed to make things right for Jensen and his company.
He finished his breakfast and pulled out his phone. "Hey, Alex, I know it's Sunday, and I'm sorry, but it's come to my attention that a buddy of mine is in trouble... I was wondering if you would help me round up a bunch of friends who wouldn't mind a bit of hard work." Taking a deep breath, Jared began to tell Alex what he needed to do.
Confused and ominous dreams had littered Jensen's sleep, and he woke with a start, panicking at the strange surroundings. It took him a moment to orient himself and remember exactly where he was. That led to him remembering the previous evening and... he sat bolt upright, all vestiges of sleep gone. Ty. Was it too soon to call the hospital? He should find his phone and call the hospital. Also, where was Cat? She wasn't visible, and that meant he should worry, because there were so many terrible things she could be doing to annoy his mom. Then there was the need to go meet with the police detective, who was probably wondering where he was. And there were insurance claims to be filed...
Groaning, Jensen checked his watch and noted that it was only just after 6am. Flopping back against his pillow he fumbled until he found his phone and looked for the number of the hospital, dialing it and finding out that Ty was still out for the count. Knowing that it was really still too early to call Traci or the police, he decided that the next thing he needed to do was find Cat before she caused an international incident.
Reluctantly, Jensen climbed out of his bed, pulled on his jeans, shoved his phone into his pocket, and padded off to look for his 'Lady of Misrule'. Combing the house from top to bottom, he could find no clue as to her whereabouts, although there were several clues that she had been there earlier. It was evident that she'd had a furious battle with a bowl of pot pourri, the contents of which lay vanquished on the carpet in the hall; and when he went into the kitchen to find something to sweep up the mess, he found that the mug he'd had the cocoa in the night before had been knocked over so she could get at the dregs. That had resulted in a trail of chocolatey paw-prints across his mama's pretty white quartz countertop.
Swiftly cleaning up the evidence of her explorations, he called for her a few times, but to no avail. Wherever she was, she wasn't ready to come to him, and he thought maybe she blamed him for the ordeal she'd been through the night before. Finally he finished restoring the pot pourri to its bowl and went back up the stairs, thinking that he could possibly get another couple of hours of sleep before he would have to start doing all the things he needed to do to get through the day. As he made his way along the corridor to his room, he spotted that his mom's door was a little way open.
Fearing the worst, he pushed it wide enough to peer in, and that's when he saw what had become of Cat.
His mom, clad in silk pajamas that no doubt had been clawed into shape, was sleeping peacefully with Cat snuggled up happily in the crook of her arm. He couldn't help himself. Grabbing his phone from his back pocket, he swiftly snapped a couple of photos of the pair of them, then silently he went back to bed.
Jensen heard from Detective Pellegrino, who let him know Ty had regained consciousness, just as he was about to make his way out to the workshop. He instantly decided that he would make for the hospital first and see what Ty might remember.
He'd eaten a hearty breakfast with his mom and figured that going back to eating from cans was going to be really difficult for both him and for Cat, now he'd had real food for a while. Cat had dined on poached salmon, while he'd had breakfast burritos stuffed with fluffy egg, bacon and salsa. Neither of them actually felt like going anywhere, and in fact Cat had returned to Donna's room where she had curled up on the pillow and proceeded to fall asleep, no doubt gaining strength so she could tackle her lunch.
He had to grin as he remembered his mother coming into the breakfast room this morning and reproachfully handing him Cat. At his amused look, she said, piqued, "She snuck into my bed and used me as a hot water bottle. My silk pajamas are now covered in cat hair." The thought occurred to him that if she were to find Cat back on her pillow, she'd be likely to try and ban her from the bedroom. He couldn't wait to watch and see who won their battle of wills. He knew who he'd put his money on, and it certainly wasn't his mom.
Right now, Donna was staying surprisingly silent about her new sleeping partner. She'd decided to give Jensen a ride over to the workshop to collect his own car so that he would be free to come and go, but was insisting that he stay with her at least until the workshop was secured once more. That meant he was likely to be around for the fallout when she finally noticed that Cat had re-annexed the bedroom.
There was yellow crime-scene tape across the open door of his workshop, and several people inside taking photographs of the destruction. The young policeman stationed by the door told him that they were almost done and that they would be releasing the scene later that afternoon. Nodding, Jensen thanked his mom and hopped into his own car to make his way to the hospital.
Ty was awake and sitting up in bed, arguing with a nurse, when Jensen arrived. The detective had been sitting with him, presumably questioning him, but had sat back while the nurse checked his vital signs and adjusted the drip that was feeding him antibiotics. When Ty saw Jensen, he looked relieved.
"Thank God you're here. Tell these people I need to get out of here. I almost completed the wiring around the mermaid's hair that was giving us so much trouble. I need to get it completed before..."
"You need to stay right here, man." Jensen pulled up a chair and sat down beside his partner.
The detective leaned forward, cleared his throat and murmured, "Now I've got the two of you together, can you think of any reason why your workshop would be the target of vandals?"
Ty looked at the detective, his face registering the shock he was feeling. "Vandals?"
"It wasn't a robbery, man. They just smashed everything to pieces." Jensen shook his head. "There really wasn't anything there worth stealing."
"My colleague, Detective Sergeant Buckmaster, is over at the scene of the crime at this moment, working with your employee, Ms. Dinwiddie, to determine if anything was actually stolen." Pellegrino spread his hands. "What I want to know is whether there is any connection between the incident last night and the damage that occurred in the church a few weeks ago. I'll admit that I can't see how they could be connected, but I'd be happy to hear if you have any ideas."
"To be perfectly honest," said Ty, frowning ruefully, "I can't recall anything about it. One minute I was soldering copper wire around the glass and the next thing I woke up here. Other than that, I have no clue. I'm fine now, and I need to get back..."
"You need to stay here until the doctors say you can leave," growled Jensen. "I don't want to suddenly find you've keeled over with your eyes in a glassy stare because you had something wrong that wasn't healed." He rose to his feet. "I should get over there, though. Traci is awesome, but I shouldn't have left her to face all this stuff alone. Besides, if the perpetrators come back, and she's on her own she could get hurt."
As Jensen pulled up into his customary parking spot outside the workshop, he could tell that something untoward was going on. Hurrying to the door he was instantly hit by an armful of screeching Traci, who practically bowled him over in her excitement. She was talking non-stop, thanking goodness he had come, that he was okay, and that his friends had come to help, meanwhile, Jensen was growing more and more confused.
"What are you talking about, woman?" he said, once he could get a word in edgewise.
"Did you get hurt too? Are you okay? Your friends came to help us sort things out." Traci sounded perplexed. "They came as soon as they heard, and I couldn't even have done anything without them helping. That furnace is really heavy."
"I don't have any..." Jensen's voice trailed away as he guided Traci with him back into the workshop, where he could see five or six people busily sweeping and sorting, while one of them was busily wielding a hammer as he effected repairs to Jensen's drafting table. "What's going on here?" he asked, his voice shaking a little.
"Oh, hi, Mr. Ackles." A fresh faced young man appeared at his side, holding out his hand with a smile. "You probably didn't spot me last night, because I was doing mostly behind the scenes stuff, but my name is Alex, and you can call me Al."
"Last night? What...?" Jensen thought he might be in the middle of some weird dream brought on by shock, or indigestion or maybe even a sudden descent into madness. "Okay, so long as you don't start calling me Betty."
"Last night at the auction, you know? Jared read about what happened and here we are!" Alex beamed. "We've managed to get the furnace back up and running, and Miss Traci here says that if we sort the colors of all the fragments out into their own piles, she can restore them so they can be used again."
At that moment, Jared, who had been sitting on the floor with another man, sorting fragments of glass into separate dishes, popped his head up from behind the drafting table. "Jensen!" he called. "I saw the news about the break in when I was reading the paper." He rose lightly to his feet and took a careful step towards Jensen as he was speaking, a wide smile on his handsome face. "It made me feel awful, so I rounded up my friends, and I really want to do what I can to help."
Jensen looked shocked. "Ummm, thank you, but why?" He took a step backwards, clearly confused. "I mean, you don't know me. We've only said about ten words to each other, and I don't have any money left to pay you with. Everything I had is smashed up on the floor there. The commission was going to bring in enough money to give us a start, and now it's all fucked up." He clenched his hands, trying his hardest to hold himself together and not lash out, but he was so close to breaking down he didn't know just how long he could stand to be there.
Jared seemed to understand, because he nodded, but didn't make any move that might tip Jensen over into an outburst while he was so obviously on edge. Instead, he asked Jensen, "Do you mind if I take your hard drive to my office and see if the contents can be salvaged?"
For a moment it seemed as though Jensen hadn't heard, or maybe hadn't understood what he was being asked, but then he shook himself and made a visible effort to get himself under control.
"You think it can? Not that it matters." He indicated the damaged printer which had been a special, wide format machine with the ability to print onto plastic.
"You forget, Jensen, or you actually may not know, but I'm an architect, and I have the printers and equipment you can use at need, until we can sort out your insurance claims and get yours replaced." Jensen gazed at him in astonishment.
"But why? I don't understand."
"Because I want to." Jared took the opportunity to move close enough to pat Jensen's shoulder. "Because you need help. And because I can."
At that there seemed nothing that Jensen could say that wouldn't sound ungracious. He bowed his head. "Thank you," he murmured.
"Jensen?" Traci had been trying to attract his attention, but now she was insistent that he listen to what she was saying. "Jensen, I can't find Cat anywhere. They might have hurt her..."
The mention of his beloved pet finally brought Jensen back to himself, and he swallowed. "It's OK, Trace. Cat's at my mom's place. I found her last night."
"Oh, Lord! Do you think she's going to be safe? I don't think your mother likes her very much."
That brought a fleeting smile to Jensen's lips."You should've seen her last night! Wait a minute, I have proof." Fumbling for his phone, he found the photo he'd taken of his mom and Cat snuggled together. "Check this out."
That made Traci cackle, and then she had to explain to Jared and Alex all about the rat in Donna's bag. They all had a good laugh at the photo, and the tension in the workshop seemed to relax considerably. Finally, Jensen took a deep breath and met Jared's gaze with his own.
"You know I can't pay you anything. I'm still not sure why you want to help me."
"Hey, listen. I have a charity especially for assisting up and coming artists. Why wouldn't I want to help one who is so desperately in need?" Jared gestured at the others in the room. "These guys are all anxious to help too. Let them do their thing."
"Guys, I don't know what to say." Jensen seemed to realize that everyone there was sincere. "Just know that you can call on me in the future if ever you need help."
"If you guys are happy working with Miss Traci here to get all the stuff in here cleared up and sorted out, I'm going to take Jensen to my office to see if we can resurrect his hard drive and see what else he might be able to use." Clapping Jensen on the back, he started to lead the astonished man to the door. "Alex, you and Traci both have my number? Don't hesitate to call if you need me."
Mentally congratulating himself on having found a way to get Jensen to himself, Jared was determined to help the object of his desire to overcome the horrible destruction of his workshop. It was slowly occurring to him that the losses were not just to the workshop but to Jensen's livelihood, and his heart went out to the young man as he sat, huddled, in the passenger's seat of Jared's Range Rover.
"Listen, my friend," Jared was choosing his words with great care. "This is temporary; I guarantee it. We'll make sure that everything is set to rights. You'll see."
"Am I?" Jensen looked up. "Your friend, I mean? I still don't get it. You met me for about two minutes last night, and somehow I'm your friend. I mean I'm grateful for whatever help you and the guys back at the shop can provide, but I don't..." He took a breath. "What do you get out of it anyway?"
Jared drew in his own breath as Jensen fixed him with a hard stare. “Well...I want to be." He cleared his throat. "It's like this. I saw you in the church the day Father Collins talked to the press about your rose window restoration. I couldn't find out who you were for the longest time, but I couldn't forget you."
Jensen rolled his eyes. "So you think I'll sleep with you if you..."
"No!" Jared was quick to interrupt. "Just let me finish. I finally found out who you were last night, and I introduced myself to you and your mom, but I could tell that you were less than impressed. I guess you've heard about my reputation, and that's valid. I know there are a lot of stories out there about me, and the press does tend to exaggerate, because why would you spoil the story by telling the truth? But I promise you I'm nothing like as bad as you probably think I am. So I just wanted to meet you in such a way that I can show you over time that I'm really a good guy. No strings; no pressure, I promise. That's all."
Jensen didn't respond for a very long time. Jared was pulling in to park in the basement of his office building when Jensen finally turned to him. He held his breath, mentally sending a prayer out to whoever might be listening.
"Listen," said Jensen. "I can't deny that I'm in a pickle, and need all the help I can get. So thank you for your offer of help. We have to have some rules though." He smiled a little, and Jared felt his whole body relax in relief. "For a start, I need you to keep a strict account of anything that puts you out of pocket. I will pay you back, even if I have to do it a bit at a time."
Jared felt his heart begin an ecstatic tango in his chest and wondered if Jensen could hear it, it was so loud. "I can do that," he said. "Does using my equipment during downtime when it wouldn't already be in use count, or can I give you that for free?"
"Jeez, I don't know. Just make a note of what gets used, and we can talk about fair wear and tear and so on once my head stops spinning, okay?" The two of them left the car to walk over to the elevator together, and Jared offered his hand.
"Shake on it," he said. "You can add other conditions if you need them, but I'm not in any hurry for you to pay me back. I've got way too much money, you know. I can stand to lose a little in a good cause."
Again Jared waited, wondering what was going through Jensen's mind, wishing he could interpret the other man's expressions and know what he was thinking. Finally, as the elevator doors opened, Jensen turned to him and shook his hand.
"Well, okay. I guess we have a deal. Thank you." The two of them stepped into the elevator, and Jensen gave a sigh as he sagged against the wall, shaking his head. "We were almost done. The panel was nearly done. That's why Ty was working on it at night. We were going to get it over to Houston and begin installing it next Wednesday, well within the deadline, which is the 27th of September. We were so excited to bring it in with so much time to spare."
"Deadline? The 27th is your deadline?"Jared frowned. "That means you can still get it done in time! In that case, we should hurry."
The elevator door slid open and revealed Jared's office as Jensen was formulating his reply, and he didn't reply, instead looking around at the spacious area in front of him.
"How many people work here?" he asked, taking in the size of the place and the banks of equipment he could see.
"On a permanent basis, right now only Alex and I, but I have other people who attend when I need them. Mostly I do all the work from here, and Alex organizes me so that I can." Jensen walked around, assimilating the array of equipment and finally paused beside the very handsome, state of the art drafting table.
"Wow!" He fingered the tempered glass and looked at the connections to the computer that was stacked behind it. "What I'd give..." He paused and looked at Jared over his shoulder. What exactly do you do?" he asked.
"Let me show you," said Jared, reaching to turn on his computer and using his hands to call up images on the glass of the table. "I'm an architect. I design buildings for all kinds of clients, and a variety of uses. I'm fortunate in that most of the time my other design staff work out of my New York office, and the only people that bug me are Alex and the engineers that we take on to actually get the designs built. I like working alone, and the internet has been a great asset in that regard." He pulled up a design for a graceful building. "This is one I've just finished. There's an engineer looking at the plans right now, and next week we'll be sending him off to Brazil to get the project underway. I like to be there for the ground breaking, but that won't happen for a couple of weeks, because we have to wait for some of the paperwork to be approved.”
Nodding, Jensen studied the plans carefully and then moved to an elevation. "It's really attractive. What is it?"
"Oh, it's going to be a government building of some kind in Manaus," Jared told him. "A lot of the old architecture in Brazil is Baroque, and I wanted it to fit in, so it has the rounded edges and curved lines that speak to the style."
"You're an artist too," said Jensen after a pause to compare the older style with Jared's design. "I'm impressed."
"Thank you." Jared pulled Jensen's hard drive out of his pocket and took it to yet another computer, one that was sitting on a worktop beneath a window that looked out onto a patio lined with planters. Beyond the railing at the edge of the patio, Jensen could see Austin laid out beneath him as if it were a pattern on a rug. "Oh, my GOD! If I worked here, I would never leave."
Jared, who was doing things with the broken hard drive, gave a short laugh. "Believe me, that can be arranged," he said.
"I don't know if Cat would like it though," mused Jensen, frowning. "Unless you want to release a few mice and lizards for her to play with. She likes snakes too."
"To be honest," said Jared, trying hard to maintain a perfectly straight face as he appeared to consider the idea. "I don't think mice and lizards and snakes would be very happy in here. The space is too clinical. We'd need bugs and kudzu* and stuff to sustain them..."
Just as he'd intended, Jensen broke first, starting to laugh before Jared had even started to elaborate on the possible presence of snakes. He stopped laughing when Jared suddenly exclaimed and began typing on the keyboard beside the computer where he was working.
"I think the drive is toast," Jared announced, all levity gone from his voice as he worked. "But I can get some of the data back from it. Look! I need you to point out any files that are absolutely essential, and we'll grab those first."
As an array of files appeared on the screen, Jensen pressed in next to Jared, and the two of them began to salvage what they could from the battered equipment. All was silent as they worked feverishly to recover the data Jensen needed. When the drive finally died, the two of them sat back feeling exhausted. Jensen found that he was actually shaking as Jared began to burn the files they'd saved onto a new drive.
"We may still have some of the Graytex plasticised paper left at the workshop. That stuff is virtually impossible to tear, so they would have needed to chop it up with an axe or set fire to it or something. I can go get some or call Traci to bring it over if you have a printer that can deal with it?" Jensen was talking fast, relief that his design had been saved written large on his features. "Then I can get started all over again."
"Don't be silly. What if yours is unusable? We'll have wasted all that time driving over there and then back." Jared set his printer going. “If yours is still salvageable, give me some to replace what I'm using now, but if it isn't we've saved a lot of time."
As the templates printed out, Jared could see a little respect dawning in Jensen's eyes. It didn't take long for his reluctant companion to confess that Jared was right, and Jared laughed a little.
"I'm irritating that way," he said, nodding his head. "Just ask Alex! Okay. I think we have what we need for now, so let's get back there and see what a mess the crew have made, shall we?"
Back at the workshop, everyone was still working. Traci had managed to create several sheets of blue glass from the shards, and was beginning to work on the opalescent pieces, figuring Jensen would probably need them next. Alex had the green pieces in a bowl ready to go into the furnace, and everyone else was still sorting what they could. As Jensen came into the room, Traci breathed a visible sigh of relief.
"Jensen! Will we be able to start over? Check out the panes on the cooling rack. Do you think they're good enough to work?" Jensen slid his arm around her and kissed the top of her head as he made his way over to see what she'd achieved. There were several sheets of the blue glass in various shades, and they were all workable from what Jensen could tell.
"Baby girl, you done good," he murmured, giving her a squeeze before letting her go. "Did they get the copper? I don't see any bits lying around. It'll be great if they didn't find it."
"I think it's still under your bed," said Traci. Now all we need is Ty, and we're in business." Jensen's face darkened.
"Yeah, well, that might not be so easy. He's in the hospital with a head injury. They weren't going to let him out today. They told me he needs to stay there for observation." He gave a sigh, then brightened up as Jared left his conversation with Alex and came over to inspect the sheets of glass. "Have you met Jared? He's been really helpful. He managed to get all the info off my hard drive, so we haven't lost the accounts or anything." Traci rolled her eyes at that, but greeted Jared with a smile, and then went to start restoring the green glass, deftly tipping the bowl of fragments into the crucible to start melting them down.
"I'd love to learn how to do that," said Jared, watching Traci as she began to work the glass in its rapidly melting state. It was the right thing to say, and within a few minutes the two of them were chatting away as if they had known each other all their lives. Nodding to himself, Jensen went over to inspect the stores of copper foil he kept under his bed, unaware that Jared was watching his every move with admiration plain on his features.
It seemed as though the vandals had missed Jensen's little alcove as a storage place, because the rolls of copper foil were intact, as was his toolkit for shaping the pieces of glass. He sat down on his bed and heaved a sigh of relief. Maybe he would make it through after all. He just had to get started and hope for the best.
As he spread the paper template out to form a guide for his cutting, he couldn't help reflecting that he'd already done this once, and wondering if the effort was worth it. By the time he'd got it all laid out to his satisfaction, Jared, who had been joined by Alex and was apparently getting a lesson in molding glass into sheets, beckoned him over.
"We've been conferring," he said as he watched Traci working. "Alex and I think that we can free up most of our time at least for the next week. We'll spend an hour or so in the office first thing in the morning, and then we'll both make our way over here for the rest of the day. It seems as though Traci will need to be more involved in the creation of the panel, at least while Ty is sick, so between us we'll try and fill in with some of the stuff we can do." He gave Jensen a self-deprecating smile. "What do you think?"
"Are you sure you want to?" Jensen was posing his question to Alex, thinking that he might be being coerced by his boss, and he was shocked when the young man responded enthusiastically.
"Yeah, please. I'm excited to help. It's fascinating."
Meanwhile, Traci had taken the blob of newly reconstituted glass over to the tin bath, where she allowed it to drip onto the molten tin and spread itself out, floating on the metal. Leaving it to settle into a single sheet as it cooled, she turned on the sprinkler overhead. The water wasn't pouring evenly, and it was evident that the sprinkler had been damaged. However, from the clouds of steam that issued from the cooling glass, it seemed that the system still worked sufficiently for their purpose.
"I'm amazed they didn't do anything to break the tin bath," Traci said.
"I guess they didn't see it as anything more than a metal table." Jensen peered into the steam, assessing the glass, then reached to turn off the deluge of water, but looked up to find Jared's intense gaze on him. Blushing, he explained, "We use tin because it's got such a low melting point, so once you turn off the element it solidifies very quickly, and just looks like a table.You don't even see the switch because it's underneath." He smiled. "Not to mention that Ty tends to use it to dump copper and tools and mugs of coffee on when it's cold."
By the end of the afternoon, the group had as much of the broken glass separated into bowls as was possible, and between them, Traci and Alex had a system going that was producing panes of glass as swiftly as they could be cooled. Jensen was using the blue sheets Traci had made earlier to start clipping pieces ready to incorporate into the design, while Jared used the files and emery cloth needed to sand down the pieces. The other two had finished cleaning up and Chris was working with him to polish the glass pieces and set them into place, while Steve was doing whatever Traci told him to with a grin on his face that showed that he really didn't mind at all.
It was almost six. The sun was low on the horizon, and the light was no longer streaming through the skylights. Jared, intent on his self appointed task, was completely engrossed when Alex came over to poke him in the back.
"You might want to think about food," he said. "I don't know about anyone else, but I'm starving."
Hearing him, Jensen straightened up and set down his pliers. "Yeah, sorry. I get so engrossed in what I'm doing. I'll send out for something for us in just a minute. The light's going now, and I can't match colors properly in artificial light anyway."
"Yeah," said Jared. "But it's not on you to feed all of these ravening beasts." He gestured behind him at the others, who had all turned to see what was happening. "We all deserve a break, so let's go get a proper meal since we all missed lunch. I vote for ALC Steaks. Fight me if you must."
Jensen rolled his eyes but said nothing, while the others muttered agreement or gave a thumbs up. In a matter of only a few minutes, Jared was calling for security to patrol the workshop, while Traci shut down the furnace and the tin bath. Jensen put his tools away and called for a reservation. Moments later, the group was on their way to the nearby restaurant.
Masterpost