{SPN J2 Big Bang} Gunmetal Dawn - Chapter 9
Fic Title: Gunmetal Dawn
Author name: deannawol
Artist name: grayscaled
Genre: RPS AU
Pairing: Jensen/Jared
Rating: NC-17 / R
Word count: 66,666
Warnings: Slash (M/M) relationship, oral sex, violence, language, angst .
Summary: J2 Cyberpunk AU; Three years ago, Christian Kane betrayed Jared Padalecki and killed most of his family. Mercenary Jensen Ackles saved him and his younger sister Megan and brought them to live with them out in the wilds of Texas. Jared's been training and is finally ready to take Kane on to win back his family's corporate empire. However, the course of true love never runs smoothly and in regaining what he's lost, he's put everything he loves in jeopardy, including his partner and lover, Jensen. A J2 Romance in a Cyberpunk AU setting.
Link to Fic Masterpost: Link
Link to Art Masterpost: Link
Previous Chapter
Laughing, Jared fetched Genevieve's coat and helped her into it. It was still warm outside but the wind had enough of a chill that Genevieve didn't want to chance a cold. He'd had a genuinely good time tonight. People had been every bit as stuffy as he'd imagined they'd be but Genevieve's quick wit and whispered comments had kept him smiling the whole way through. It had been a bit of a disappointment that he couldn't bring Jensen but at least he'd had some decent company. And speaking of his boyfriend, there Jensen was, a finger on the activation button for his throat mic, a dark look on his face as he spoke. Stone followed on behind, talking quietly into his own mic. Their voices were quiet, but he could just about make out what Jensen was saying.
"Sure, Morgan," Jensen said, "I'll take care of it. You just get it sorted there. Keep me updated."
"Problems?" Jared asked, his voice low.
"Yeah, small issue back at home," Jensen explained, "Building's evac'ed. Will be until they get it cleared up."
Jared frowned, "The hell? What happened?"
"JD says that he found something in the apartment,” Jensen ran a hand through his hair. “Mac said that she called him in after she noticed a suspicious package. Either way it was enough to get them hitting the panic buttons and get the whole building cleared."
"Something? Suspicious package?" Jared’s voice rose, "Jen, you're not exactly big with the facts here."
Looking around, Jensen leaned in, his breath brushing the back of Jared's ear, "About a pound of C6 hidden, wired to a remote control. Backup timer."
Jared couldn't speak, the words sticking in his throat. Sure, Jensen had been behind him the whole time, watching just in case someone did something, but he'd never really thought that someone would actually try something. That much explosive would level the top ten floors and dangerously damage another ten. Easily.
"JD got Meg out okay?" Jared asked.
"Mac got her out the second she hit the panic button. They’re staying overnight with some guys I know. They'll keep them there, protect them until it’s all clear," Jensen shrugged.
"Street guys?" Jared asked.
"Yeah, some guys I used to run with way back. Owe me a couple of favours. White knights, so they're golden until we're done."
Jared sighed in relief, "Thanks man."
"No sweat. I figure we'll crash somewhere low key for the rest of the night, wait for the all clear," Jensen said, taking a look around again.
"Cool, let me just grab my stuff and we'll go."
Jensen stepped back. He exchanged a look with Stone and nodded.
Frowning, Jared looked between Jensen and Stone. They had their own language going, one that didn't need words. Hand signals and directions, that’s all it took. Jared could understand most of it from his time running with Jensen on the streets but there were new signals in there, stuff he didn’t know, couldn’t recognise. Memories of their time working the streets came flooding back and the savage twist of jealousy took him by surprise. He hadn't had much time with Jensen recently. Everything was rushed. And now more than ever, he just wanted to get back there. This thing with Genevieve was good - she was good - decent company but he wanted out of this fake world. Plastic smiles and subtle insults, he hated it but until he got everything patched up for Megan, he was stuck here.
Tapping his date on the shoulder, he spoke softly, "Hey Genevieve, we gotta go."
"Something wrong?" Genevieve asked from beside him.
"Nah, it's all under control. Jen's got it sorted out. But I need to find somewhere to crash tonight."
Genevieve smiled, "That's no problem. You and Jensen can stay with us."
Jared looked to Jensen. All he wanted to do was get out of here, relax, pull off the tux and chill. A beer, maybe some takeout and private time with his boy. He didn’t want Genevieve to throw a scene, not after such a good evening.
But before Jensen could say anything, Stone stepped forward, shaking his head, "Um, not a good idea, Genevieve. We got press sitting on the doorstep. Will do until after the election. It'd be all over the 'net in seconds. Wouldn’t look good with your dad playing up the family values card."
Putting his hand on Stone's shoulder, Jensen smiled, "We don't wanna bring this down on you guys. Gut tells me this is an inside job but just in case, we're gonna keep the possible threats down. We'll grab a motel tonight. Watch some cable and grab some sleep. Our guys are working on tracking whoever did it and putting them down. Shouldn't be too much longer until we get the all clear."
"Yeah, Jensen’s right,” Jared agreed, “but thanks for the offer, Genevieve."
Jared wrapped an arm around her waist and squeezed gently. When he looked back at Jensen, he saw a flash of something in his eyes but it was gone before he could be sure exactly what it was that he saw.
"We'll keep you company," Genevieve said, cheerfully oblivious to the undertones, and Jared swore he could see Jensen’s fists clench.
Stone didn't look too happy at her pronouncement either, "Genevieve, can I have a word?"
She shook her head, "Nope," she smirked, "Come on, we can't leave them like this. I insist."
Jensen looked at Jared, then at Stone. Stone just shrugged. It looked like he wasn't even going to try to reason with Genevieve. Hell, Jared had only known her for a week and he already knew that arguing with her was going to get him nowhere. He shrugged and Jensen closed his eyes for a second, sighing heavily, "Okay, I guess you guys get to come with us. It's going to be boring though. Just so you know."
"More or less boring than spending a night at home and avoiding all windows just in case the photographers want to take my picture?" she asked.
"Pretty much the same, I guess" Jensen shrugged.
"Okay then, that's settled," she smiled.
Jared shrugged, "Then I guess we're ready."
Jensen got into the drivers seat and Genevieve jumped into the back, patting the seat beside her. Stone grabbed the front seat leaving Jared to sit in the back, strapping in as Jensen turned the engine over and took off. The conversation was stilted, with Genevieve chattering away in his ear. Stone seemed to be tuning it out, watching behind in the mirrors and Jensen was focused so hard on the road in front that Jared wasn’t sure the road wouldn’t disappear if Jensen did much more than blink. They drove around the city for forty minutes before Jensen swung the wheel sharply and pulled into a middle of the road motel seemingly at random.
"Stone, standard side by side on the second, yeah?"
Stone nodded and climbed out of the car, making his way to the office as Jensen watched the streets. Turning slightly in his seat, Jared watched the cars, checking for any occupied cars. Any with the engines on. Nothing suspicious, the coast was clear.
"So what are we doing about the room arrangements?" Genevieve asked from the backseat.
Jared was a little puzzled by the question, "Well, I guess it's going to be Jen and me in one room and you and Stone in the other. Why?"
"Just thinking. I know we're lost in the suburbs here but what if we're seen?"
Jared let his head thump back against the glass of the window. She was probably right, but all he wanted to do was curl up with Jensen. Turn on a little crappy pay-per-view, make out a little, maybe get laid for the first time in too fucking long. But now she had a point. As much as he wanted to tell her to take a flying leap, he knew she was right. If anyone did see them coming out of the same room, then it would wreck all the publicity they'd been working so hard to get.
"It's a random motel in a run down part of town. News crews only make it this far if they've got a full compliment of police with them and there ain't any picture worth that much hassle to get," Jensen sounded tired.
Genevieve rolled her eyes, "It's not the news crews that I'm worried about.” She turned to Jared, neatly cutting Jensen out of the discussion, “You've been all over the news since you came back to town, Jay. I doubt there's anyone in the city who wouldn't recognize you. And news stations pay for pictures no matter how bad they are. All we need is one guy with a cellphone to snap the wrong picture and the company crashes. Stock prices will tumble. People will stop taking your meetings," she paused, reaching out to touch Jared's arm, "You said that everything was falling into place. It would be a shame to get this far and then fall at the last step. Come on Jay, think about this."
Jared looked to Jensen, but his boyfriend wasn't looking back, just staring out through the windscreen, eyes fixed on the street.
"Jen?" Jared asked, looking to see what had Jensen's attention.
"This is all you, Jay. Your choice. Your decision. Whatever you think best."
Jared was surprised to hear the cold tone in Jensen's voice. Reaching out, he touched Jensen on the arm. Jensen looked down at his hand and then up at Jared and he smiled, but Jared could see that it wasn't quite reaching Jensen's eyes.
"Whatever you want to do, Jay," he shrugged, "I'm probably gonna be awake most of the night so it doesn't make much difference to me."
"Okay then. I guess that we could..."
Genevieve interrupted, "Okay then, it's decided. Jared and I in one room and you and Stone in the other taking turns pacing and worrying. Least this way, you won't keep us awake."
He could see the flinch on Jensen's face before it transformed back to the so fucking perfect stoic mask that everyone else got to see. Jared knew it well enough from their days on the street but Christ, he never expected to see Winchester's best blank mask directed at him. He wanted to ask what was wrong but now wasn’t the best time. He flicked a glance at Genevieve, still prattling about this great 'adventure'. Jensen wouldn’t be exactly open or honest with an unconnected witness watching on from the sidelines.
The car door opened and Stone dangled a key from his finger, "Jared, here ya go. Genevieve, we got the room next door."
Jensen spoke up, shaking his head, "Sorry Stone, you get to deal with my snoring."
“Awesome, man.”
Jared could tell from the clenched jaw that Jensen wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as Stone. Jensen climbed out of the car and grabbed two overnight bags from the trunk, leaving Stone to trail after him like an over-enthusiastic puppy. Jared watched Jensen pull the bags out. Why the hell were there two overnight bags in the trunk? He didn't have time to ask before Jensen dropped one of the bags at his feet.
"Clothes, toiletries, armour and a spare handgun, just in case," Jensen explained. "Ammo is in there too. You've got your phone with you. I've got mine. You see anything, hear anything, you call. I'm gonna be on the phone to Morgan for most of the night. I’ll grab Stone’s phone for that. He doesn’t know that number, and anyone listening in can’t trace it as easily as they could mine. Company network and all that shit. But I mean it though, you get so much as an itchy feeling, you dial. You got that?"
Jared wanted to say something, but Jensen was already grabbing the keys to check out the rooms. Stone waited with them until Jensen gave the all clear. Jared bounded up the stairs, wanting to get to Jensen, to say something, to find out exactly what was up before Genevieve and her bodyguard arrived.
"Okay, JD," Jensen was on the phone, "we're gonna stay out until morning, see how it is then. So what have you found out?"
Jensen saw him and pointed at the phone, stepping into one of the rooms to let him pass. Jared's heart fell at the dismissal but the sound of footsteps behind him made him swallow down the feeling and move past to the other room. He dumped his bag on the floor and pulled off his tie, tossing it on a chair. The jacket came next. He looked up and saw Genevieve standing in the doorway, watching him.
"You okay, Jay?"
Jared could hear the tightness in his voice as he answered, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Yeah, I can see that," she smiled, closing the door, "You need to talk?"
He sighed, shaking his head, "Nah, I'm good."
"So what you..."
She was interrupted by Jared's phone. He picked up his jacket and fished it out of his pocket. Josh's name flashed on the display. He clicked it open, answering it.
"Josh, you okay? Everyone okay out there?" he asked, a little worried. Josh never called him. He always called Jensen. Always.
"So I was talking to my brother earlier and I kinda got the feeling that something is up with him, you got any idea?" Josh demanded, not bothering to say hello.
Jared could hear some noise in the background but nothing distinct.
He sighed heavily, "We got some shit going down here. Someone's trying to kill us again."
"So it's a Saturday, yeah?" Josh joked, "Listen, I know Jensen when he’s worked up over stuff like threats and I know Jensen when he’s just plain worked up and I gotta say, I'm not thinking that this is a threat. So what's got him riled?"
Jared pushed a hand through his hair. Genevieve was standing there, watching him. He held up a finger and disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door after him. He liked her well enough. She'd worked her way up to a good friend in this last few days but he wasn't sure he wanted to have this conversation in front of her.
"I dunno, Josh, the whole situation, it's taking a lot outta both of us," Jared rested his ass against the sink. "Don't think there's been more than five minutes where we could just sit down and talk. Hell..." he moved the phone from one ear to the other, "...we haven't had any time that was just us that wasn't taken over by sleeping in weeks."
"And the great idea of having him as your security?" Josh asked.
Jared shrugged, "Just kinda happened. You were there when we stormed the building. You saw how he was, straight back into it, watching my back. He hasn't stopped since and, I guess, somewhere along the line, it just kinda happened. Everyone was seeing him as the bodyguard and..."
He stopped, trying to get the words out, "He seems okay with it. We haven't really talked about it. Every time I go to leave the office there's always one more thing. And... I don't know what's up with him, Josh. I'm not sure I know what's up with me. I just-- I'm sick of this corp bullshit."
"So tonight then? Things like that happen often?"
"The Mayor's ball or the threat? No, in either case," Jared frowned.
"No, not some ball and not some little shit trying to end you, Jay, the fact that you've got a girl hanging off your arm while Jen is standing on the other side of the room and watching as you get your jollies on with her," Josh was angry now, almost shouting, "Dude, you gotta be blind if you don't see that there's something fucked up with that situation. You have a boyfriend. My brother. So what the hell are you hiring a date for?"
"JD said...” Jared trailed off, “I mean, Mirabel said..."
Put like that he could see that yes, there was definitely something wrong with the whole thing. He’d been working on autopilot so damned long that he hadn’t spared even two seconds to think before agreeing. Fuck. The fuck had he done?
"I dunno who the hell Mirabel is but Morgan should know a damned sight better," Josh said, "And so should you. How the hell would you feel to see Jensen parading around with someone else? Inez had to do it for a job once. Once. The guy didn’t touch her, didn’t lay a damned finger on her and I wanted to tear him apart. Not like that tart who was all over you tonight," he paused and Jared could hear him taking some deep breaths. "You remember way back when you started going out with Jen, we had a chat about what I'd do to you if you hurt my brother? I'm trying very hard to keep myself from driving back to Dallas and doing just that. 'Cause he loves you, I'm gonna give you one chance, Jared. But know that this is your last one. You talk to him. Soon. Tonight. Sort this shit out. Dump that Mirabel bitch out a window if she gives you any shit. God knows you got enough of them on that tower building of yours. And if Morgan hassles you, send him out with her," Josh took another breath, his voice dropping a little, "But I mean it Jay, talk to him as soon as you can. Get everything straightened out. Last thing I wanna do is tell Momma that her baby boy is hurtin'."
"I will, Josh," Jared was finding it hard to breathe, "I promise. I'll talk to him."
"Well... Good," Josh sounded better now, "Give my love to Mac and Meg. Tell them I was asking after them, yeah? Tell them to take care of themselves."
"Yeah. Sure. No problem," Jared agreed, his voice quiet.
"Then, let’s never have a conversation like this again, man," Josh sighed, "I like you, Jay, but Jen... Jen's my brother. It comes down to him or you, I'm gonna be on his side every time and I don't want to see him... you know."
Jared nodded, forgetting to say the words.
"Not if there's anything I can do to help it," Josh quieted down for a second, "I'm gonna be up in the city again next month probably but if you need anything before then... Well, you got my number, yeah?"
Jared forced the words out, "Y... yeah."
"Okay then, talk to you soon, Jay. And take care of him for me."
"I will," he promised and meant it with all his heart.
Josh hung up but Jared still held the phone to his ear as he stared off into space. He could feel the guilt like a pain in his chest as it all came crashing down on him. Up until a week ago, up until that first meeting with Genevieve, everything had been okay. Rushed as all Hell but they'd been okay. Hadn’t they? Sure they didn't do much more than cuddle at night but at least it was just them. Then Jensen would wake him up in the morning, make sure he knew what was happening for the day. It was just him and JD watching out for him. Just the two of them. Family. Jensen was there for him always, stood behind him when he could, or outside the door when he couldn't. Close. Always. He was there. The whole time. But then a week ago happened and the 'dates' started and...
Shit.
Jensen had left his family; his mom, his brother, everyone. He’d left his life for Jared. Moved into the corporate world, a world he hated just for him and then he'd had to watch Jay go to romantic dinners with someone else just ‘cause it would look good in the news. He'd watched the dates from the sidelines. The 'indiscretions' staged for the cameras. The hand holding. The gestures that it took to convince everyone there was something happening. Some unmistakable chemistry playing between them. And it worked. To the whole world, it looked like Jared Padalecki had a new girlfriend but Jensen knew better. He had to know better. It was the two of them against the world. Just like it always was. Wasn’t it? They hadn't had much of a chance to talk about it, but it this was just business. Genevieve was posing as his girlfriend. Nothing more than that. And true, they'd gotten close over the past week but it was friendship. Just friendship. They’d clicked, sure, but nothing out of the ordinary. He was still going back to Jensen at night. He still wanted to go back to Jensen at night. And now... Jensen was...
The self-satisfied, smirking face of Christian Kane came to mind. And try as he might to wipe it from his mind, it was still there. How the hell was he different from that bastard? He was just hiring from another agency. He forced himself to look in the mirror, half convinced that he’d see Kane’s eyes looking back at him, mocking him. He should have said no. He should have told them where to shove their ideas. How the hell was Jensen still with him? How could he stand to lay down beside him at night? How?
Shit.
He really needed to talk to Jensen. Now.
Jared clicked his phone closed and shoved it back in his pocket. He pulled open the door and made his way out to the main room. Genevieve was on the bed, lying back against the wall. He looked down and away from her, hiding his face.
"Jay? Jared, you okay?" Genevieve sat up straighter. "Oh my God!" She bounce-pushed herself off the bed, running to his side, "What's wrong, Jay?"
"I gotta... Just, I gotta go talk to..." Jared tried.
"You gotta sit down a minute and tell me what's wrong."
Jared's chest heaved, "I gotta..."
His breath caught and wouldn't release. His chest was tight. Tingles ran down his arm, making his fingers itch. Panic made it's way into his eyes as he pulled at his collar. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. He barely registered Genevieve's hand on his arm as she led him over to the bed and pushed him down. The room was spinning now and he clutched the bedclothes trying to keep the world from moving but he could feel himself falling. Dark spots played around the corners of his vision, closing in fast. His heart thundered in his ears and he just couldn’t catch his breath. This couldn’t be happening. His toxin scrubbers should have been able to cancel out any poisons so it couldn’t be that. He tried to call out but he just couldn’t get the words out. He needed Jensen. A bag was pushed into his hands and he held it to his mouth, a soft voice telling him to breathe. In and out. In and out. Jared tried to work on slowing things down but the darkness was catching up with him. Catching up until everything went black.
Jared woke up with fingers combing through his hair. He moved a little, looking around. He was lying on the bed, his head in Genevieve's lap as she brushed his hair back from his forehead.
"Hey, honey, you feeling better?" she asked.
Jared blinked, taking stock of himself, "Think… Think so. What happened?"
"You had a panic attack. Passed out," she smiled, "I'm just glad that I managed to get you to the bed before you did. You weigh a ton."
"Do not," Jared pouted.
Genevieve quirked an eyebrow, "You've been out a couple of hours, Jay. Guessing you must have been worn out."
"It's been a rough couple of weeks," he admitted.
"I'll bet it has," she smiled, "So you wanna tell me what that panic attack was about? Must have been something big to get you worked up like that."
Jared frowned as he thought back.
"Shit!" he cursed, "I have to talk to Jensen. He must be going outta his mind. Where is he?"
“I didn’t tell him. Or Stone.”
“You didn’t…” It took Jared a minute to process. “You didn’t tell him? Why the hell not?”
“It was just a panic attack, Jay. No big deal. You just needed to calm down and everything would be okay. My sister used to get them all the time.”
He pushed himself up. The room swam in front of him and he fell back.
“Gotta find Jensen.”
"Take it easy, baby," Genevieve soothed.
“Baby? The hell?” Jared asked.
The door opened to reveal Jensen. Jared started to smile but it died as soon as he saw the expression on his face. His eyes were hard green, blazing with anger and just a hint of hurt. His shoulders were rigid, his lips were a thin line. Then his expression blanked, all traces of anger and hurt vanishing behind Winchester's professionally blank expression. Jared frowned, confused and disoriented, trying to figure out why Jensen was looking at him like he was a client. What could possibly be... A cold breeze tickled him and he looked down to find himself down to his boxers. Genevieve was wearing his shirt, long legs visible under the hem. Jared pushed himself up again, ignoring the spinning room.
"Jensen, it's not what you..."
Jensen spoke over him, "Morgan has the guy. We can go."
Jared reached out but Jensen had disappeared again. Genevieve was at his arm, rubbing soothing circles on his back but Jared shoved her back.
"You… Why the hell are you wearing my shirt? And what the hell happened my clothes?”
“Baby, you gotta calm down,” she was trying to drag him back toward the bed, but he shrugged her off, just looking at the empty doorway. “You’ll get yourself worked up again. Do you want me to tell Stone that we need a minute?”
“Genevieve. Stop this!” He moved away from her, putting some distance between them, “Shit!” he cursed. “Shit! I gotta..."
Jared didn't even know how to finish that sentence. He needed to talk to Jensen but it wasn't a five minute conversation. This wasn't something that he could just say a few words and then it would all be good. This had gone way too deep. He needed to sit Jensen down, talk to him, tell him that he was the only person for him. The thing with Genevieve? That was over. Soon as he got back to the office, Mirabel was going to be cancelling everything. He'd take the day. Hell, he’d take as long as it took. Fuck the schedule. There was nothing on it that couldn't be cancelled. Hell, Meg would be picking it up soon, maybe it was time to start her on some of the big stuff, give him a chance to get things straightened out.
Yes, he'd cancel everything today. Just spend the day with Jensen. They'd take the time to reconnect and talk things out. Then tomorrow, he’d do the same if he needed to.
He was starting to feel better already. He had a plan. Dinner, talking, then maybe a movie and then...well, Jared absolutely was not above offering sexual favours to make it up to Jensen.
He left the room. Genevieve was ahead of him, talking to Stone and casting worried glances in his direction. Jensen was making sure that they had everything. Jared fell into step beside him as he went down the stairs. But Jensen didn't even acknowledge his presence and the hopeful smile died a little.
He was relegated to the back seat again and conversation was even more stilted as they dropped off Stone and Genevieve, fading to non-existent as they turned for home. Jensen parked in the garage and muttered something about checking in, heading off for the security department. Jared had to run to get ahead of him and block his path.
“Jensen please,” Jared pleaded, “Don’t do this. We need to talk. Come up with me. Please?”
Jensen wouldn't meet Jared's eye, but he turned back towards the bank of elevators. Jared pressed the button and an elevator arrived. Jared almost herded Jensen on and pressed the button. It had just started to climb when Jared hit the emergency stop button. It stopped with a jerk, lights dimming a little. A red light blinked on the button panel.
"Jensen," Jared started, "I know what you think you saw in the room, but it really wasn't what it looked like. I swear."
Jensen just watched the elevator doors. Not even a muscle twitched.
"She was just looking after me."
An eyebrow raised a fraction and Jared pushed on.
"I had a panic attack last night," Jared's voice was quiet, "Couldn't breathe and passed out. I woke up about two minutes before you came in."
Jensen turned to look at him, hard eyes raking him over suspiciously, searching for any hint of a lie.
"I swear, I would never..." Jared trailed off, "I love you, Jensen. You're the only one that I want to be with. And I know the past few weeks have been a bit weird and with Gen..."
He could see the anger bubbling up again, turning Jensen's eyes to green fire. The impassive expression didn't change.
"...and with everything else that's been going on, you and I haven't had much time together. And I'm going to fix that. Today," Jared spun Jensen to face him. He didn't offer much resistance, "I'm cancelling everything today. It's just going to be you and me. We'll spend some time together. Much as we need to get this sorted out. Get everything sorted out. We’ll talk about it, yeah?"
"And the thing with Genevieve?" Jensen asked.
"Done," Jared said immediately, "I don't care how it looks. I want you by my side and not just as a bodyguard. I love you and I want the world to know it. Don’t care what anyone else thinks. It’s you and me. Always has been. And I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make this right."
Jensen's shoulders relaxed as he stared up at Jared. He wasn't letting himself smile yet, but Jared could see the warmth returning to his eyes.
"Anything you want to do today, we'll do. Anywhere you want to go, I'll make it happen," Jared promised, taking Jensen's hand in his, "Just tell me what you want, Jen and I'll do it."
Jensen watched him for a second before speaking, "I think I just want to spend a quiet day in."
"Then we'll do that," Jared's grin was threatening to cut his face in two. "Let me just tell Mirabel to cancel everything and we'll head up, okay?"
Jensen nodded and hit the emergency stop button. The elevator whined and started again, rolling up to the executive floor. The doors pinged open and Jared saw Mirabel standing there, clipboard in hand.
"Ah, there you are," she looked over her half moon glasses, "I was starting to think that I was going to have to send for building maintenance."
Jared held up a hand, "Mirabel, I need you to cancel everything today. Reschedule it, cancel it. I don't care. But I am taking the day off."
"But Mister Padalecki, you can't..." she started.
Jared interrupted, "Last I checked, it says Chief Executive Officer on that brass plate on my door. Unless that's changed, you gotta do what I say, and I say cancel everything."
He turned and looked back at Jensen, smiling, "I'm thinking crappy movies, more food than we can possibly eat and beer. Definitely beer. What do you think?"
Mirabel's lips pulled tight, "Mister Padalecki, this irresponsibility... I cannot simply cancel all these appointments. These have been set up weeks in advance and they are vital to the operation of this company. Several of the negotiation sessions are at a crucial stage, to put them off now..."
"Mirabel, I don't care how you do it, just... Make it happen," Jared directed.
"But the Takayama delegation is waiting in the conference room, I can't simply waltz in there and tell them that you can't meet with them," she was getting shrill, "That sort of thing just isn't done! They've flown from Japan especially for this meeting."
"Then they can take in the sights today and we'll do it first thing tomorrow," Jared shrugged, talking through his teeth.
Mirabel opened her mouth but Jensen spoke first, "Jay, maybe it would be easier if you talked to them, explained the situation?"
"If he's going to do that, then he might as well just go to the meeting," she was getting snooty now.
Jared clenched his fists. She’d been polite to him, well as polite as she got, but once Jensen spoke, she cut the argument right out from under him. Was this what she always did? Was this what Jensen had to put up with? No, couldn’t be. Jensen would have said something. Wouldn’t he? Jared added another item to the growing list of shit they needed to talk about. He turned slowly, using every bit of his height to tower over the woman.
"Mirabel, if you have a problem doing your job, tell me now and I'll get HR to take care of it."
She said nothing but paled slightly. Her fingers tightened around the clipboard. She pushed her glasses up her nose and took a deep breath, "I'm sure that won't be necessary, sir."
"Okay," Jared ran a hand through his hair, "Mirabel, go cancel the rest of my appointments for today. Send anything minor to Meg, get JD to sit with her, tell him to step in if she needs it. I'll meet with the Takayama delegation, tell them what's been happening; see if they can do this tomorrow instead, work something out if they can't," he turned to Jensen and took his hand. "Would you mind waiting in the office? I'll be ten minutes, fifteen max."
Jensen smiled back, green eyes twinkling, "Don't sweat it. I'll survive ten minutes, so long as it is just ten minutes," he leaned in and kissed Jared softly, "Come get me when you're done."
Jared smiled, "I swear, ten minutes. I'll be back in no time."
Jensen turned and headed towards the office, looking back over his shoulder at Jared just before he turned down another corridor. Jared smiled back, "Conference room four?"
Mirabel nodded, ignoring Jared's cool tone, and Jared headed towards the room. He stopped just before he reached the double doors and used a piece of glass as a mirror, tucking his hair behind his ear and straightening his clothes. There was only so much he could do with last nights tux, but at least he looked mostly presentable. He flipped through the options on his cyberware, searching for the Japanese language chip he’d installed shortly after retaking the company and flicking it on. Text scrolled across his vision as the translation program started. Wasn’t perfect, but would give him the gist of what they were saying.
The delegation was immaculately turned out, all high class suits and briefcases. They stood and looked at him as he pushed the door open, bowing as he stepped into the room. Jared inclined his head towards the man leading the delegation.
"Mister Padalecki, it is a pleasure to meet you," the man said in English, his voice overly formal and thick with a Japanese accent, "I am Mushiyu Takayama, eldest son of Mayoku Takayama. He sends his apologies that he was not able to meet with you today but unfortunately his health does not permit him to travel. He means no disrespect to you or to your family by sending me in his place. He holds you in the highest of regards and hopes that we will be able to reach agreement on this matter today."
Five pairs of eager eyes watched him closely, trying to read him, probably trying to head off any displeasure that might be brewing. Jared considered his options, pulling up some of the briefing notes he’d taken the day before. He scanned the notes as they scrolled across his vision, stopping when he found what he wanted. This was their first time in the States.
"Mister Takayama, please assure your father that I hold nothing against him for his health. I hope that he is feeling better," Jared kept his speech equally formal.
"Age unfortunately has no cure," Takayama looked down, saddened.
Jared felt like a heel, "My apologies. Perhaps I can make it up to you. I understand that this is your first time in our city."
Takayama nodded.
"Then please allow me to arrange a tour of Dallas for you before we meet to close the contract," Jared said, watching the delegation closely, "There are many things to see and I do not know when you will be back with us again."
There was some chattering in Japanese which Jared followed as it ticker-taped across the bottom of his screen and finally Takayama held up a hand, silencing his advisors.
"This would be most acceptable. I fear that this may be the last time that I will have the freedom to explore your culture outside of the board rooms," he bowed.
"Wonderful, I'll get my personal assistant to set up an itinerary for you. Please feel free to connect to our network and view some of our information files for places you'd like to visit," Jared shook Takayama's hand firmly, "Enjoy your day and I will meet with you again in the morning."
"Thank you."
Jared assured him that it was no problem and made his excuses. His heart was racing as he left the room. He tried to keep to a walk through the corridors but he had to keep reminding himself to slow down. CEO's shouldn't go racing through the building, even when all they wanted to do was hand everything off to someone else and disappear with their boyfriend.
Mirabel was sitting at her desk tapping away at the keyboard when he got to his office. She didn’t look up until he called her name. Her lips were pursed, all her answers short. He told her to set something up for the Japanese delegation and pulled open the door to his office, looking around for Jensen.
The room was empty. Jared frowned and ducked back out.
"Mirabel?" he asked, "You seen Jensen around?"
"No, sir," she answered, not even sparing him a look.
She was still in a snit. But fuck it, she was completely out of line earlier and he’d needed to call her on it. She’d had her own way for far too fucking long. Her with JD backing her up. And if he had time, he’d pin her to the wall but there was a more pressing matter. Jared stepped back into his office. Maybe Jensen had to take care of something before he could just vanish for the day, just like he had to. JD had been giving him a lot of the security work to do. Made sense that he couldn't just chuck a days work without making some arrangements. Jared scrubbed his hair with a hand. How did he not know what Jensen had to do to get a day off? How had he no idea? What the hell had he been doing that he didn’t know?
He walked over to his desk, keeping an eye out for any note scribbled or stuck there. There was a small black credchip sitting on top of a folder, a post-it stuck to it with his name scrawled in Jensen's messy hand.
He had no idea where to start looking for Jensen. So he did the only thing he could. He pulled out his phone and dialled.
"Name and time, you know the drill."
The message was the usual abrupt voicemail message; simple and to the point. Jared sighed and waited for the beep.
"Hey Jen, it's me. Where are you? Call me. I’m in my office."
He hung up, and sat down heavily at his desk. Curious, he picked up the chip, turning it over. He pulled off the note. It was just his name. Jared looked through the folder underneath but it was just ordinary business stuff. Papers needing his signature, reports that he was supposed to look at. All the minutiae that came with running the company but nothing Jensen had ever expressed an interest in.
Curious, he tapped the chip against a finger. What was Jensen doing leaving him a credchip? He sat down and pulled the chip reader out from the top drawer of his desk. Slotting the chip in, he waited for the machine to process exactly how much was on the chip. It took a second for the blinking lights to resolve on a number but when it did, Jared almost dropped the machine.
Fuck, that was an awful lot of zeros.
Jared was confused now. Very confused. Why was Jensen leaving him a credchip? Why was Jensen leaving him a credchip with more money on it than he and Jensen had made in the entire time they'd been running together? More than even Jensen had probably made in total since leaving the army. It didn't make sense.
He hit refresh and the red lights blinked as it rescanned the chip. There was no change in the amount.
"The fuck?"
"What's up, Jay?"
He looked up to see Meg standing in front of his desk. He hadn't even heard her come into the office.
"Hey sis," he greeted her, putting the credchip and reader to one side. "Has Mirabel called you about picking up some of the meetings today?"
"Yeah, I'm just over to pick up the files," she smiled, "Anything I should know before I go in?"
“You picking up the MacNamara meeting? Don’t forget that he’ll need the…”
Megan cut in, “… the two year projections along with the updated production rates.”
“You read over them, yet?” Jared asked, digging out a file and handing it over.
“Glanced at them,” she took the folder, flicking through it. “All straight forward.”
“And Suchanne will want to talk about moving forward the dates but shut him down on that. He’s being an alarmist, don’t give him an inch.”
Megan nodded, “Yeah, got it. Maybe promise him an early option on the upgrade?”
"Sounds good. Everything else should be fairly straight forward. I've asked JD to sit in with you just in case anyone decides to be an idiot."
"I can deal with idiots, Jay," she smiled. “Been dealing with you for the last eighteen years, haven’t I?”
Jared huffed a laugh. "I know you can but I just want you to have some backup," he pushed his chair back and stood, walking around to the front of his desk, "He knows the business, Meg, use what he knows."
"Okay, I'll see about meeting up with him before the first meeting, go over what we know about the guys we're gonna be meeting with."
"Good," he frowned, "Incidentally, did you see Jensen on your way in?"
She looked around, "No, last time I saw him he was here."
"Here?"
"Yeah, about five minutes ago, just before Mirabel called," she answered, looking around, "I thought he'd still be here. He said you two were taking the day off."
"Yeah, that's the plan but," he shrugged, "You know anything about a credchip he left on my desk?"
"Oh... It’s Jensen’s. I just gave it to him," she said, a little puzzled, "I don't know why he left it on your desk," she shrugged, "Anyway, I wanted to do something for him. My staff said I should make it financial. I didn’t know but well, it seemed to make sense. I worked out the going rate for high end bodyguards - did you know that some of the permanently retained ones make over seven figures a year? - So, I multiplied it by the time that we were staying with the Ackles' and added in an approximation of rent and board, for him to pass on to Momma. I know that I probably should have doubled the amount. I mean, it wasn't just him taking care of us, it was the whole family but I think that it's working out to be a very fair number," she paused, looking at her older brother, "Jared, why are you looking at me like that?"
Jared was staring at Megan. He couldn't believe what she'd done.
It took him a minute to put the words together, "Meg, you're my little sister and I love you, but this has got to be the stupidest thing you've ever done."
"Huh?" she looked genuinely confused, "What did I do? Did I forget to add in something?"
Jared’s hand went to his face, covering his eyes. It dropped a little until it was covering his mouth as he bit back the first words that came to mind. He took a couple of deep breaths and pulled his hand down.
His voice was soft when he spoke, "Meg, you don't pay family for being family..."
"But dad used to pay JD and Samantha for taking care of us and they were family."
He took a deep breath, "They got paid to do their jobs. JD was in charge of making sure that we were safe and Sam was our tutor and housekeeper."
Megan opened her mouth to say something but Jared wasn't done.
"But that wasn't all they did," he continued, "Dad didn't pay JD to hunt under your bed for the vicious toe-chomping widget every night so that you could fall asleep and not wake screaming from the horrible nightmares you used to get. And he didn't pay Sam to babysit the two of us, or to crawl into bed with you after a hard day and hold you when you cried yourself to sleep when Dad was too busy to go to your recitals. They got paid to do their jobs, but the rest was because they cared. Dad could have announced that he couldn't pay them any more and they'd still have come around to make sure we were okay."
He stopped letting her take in the words.
"It's the same with the Ackles. Jensen didn't have to drag us with him back to the camp. He could have dumped us in the city or out in the desert. He could have let us just drive off, just you, me and Sam," he could feel the prickle of tears behind his eyes, "Hell, Meg, he didn't have to save us at all. He could have ransomed us back to Chris and made a shitload of money, but he didn't. He's just not that sort of person. Momma didn't have to take us in and feed us, but if she didn't she wouldn't have been Momma. How would Mac have felt if you tried to pay her for being your girlfriend? You’d be picking your ass up off the ground."
He could see the first track of a tear running down her face and he reached out, pulling her into a hug.
"Some people do things because they want to get something back and some people just do things. If Jen brought back that money to Momma she'd have been insulted. You've seen how she is when the boys bring back money. She won't take it, but she'll take food or parts for the vans and Jeeps. Stuff like that's the boys paying their way and making things better for the family, easier. She's a strong woman; she doesn't want handouts.”
He hugged her close before pulling back a little so he could see her, "You remember when she had her birthday a couple of months back. Entire family brought something, whether it was liquor, food or a busted down old jeep. And she shared it all out. She threw us a party and then got someone to fix up the jeep and declared it be used for patrols. We could have just given her the money for all of that, taken her out for a fancy dinner but I guarantee she was happier with how we did it. All her family around her. Everyone there." He smiled, remembering back, "And it meant that those people who just stay in the camp and don't go out, well, they weren't shamed because they couldn't afford to get her anything."
Megan had been one of the ones worried about that. Never leaving the camp, except for her turn on patrols and the occasional day out when someone took her training, she hadn't had any money to get Momma a present. Jared had picked up something small but pretty for her so she could give it to Momma. Momma had opened it and almost swept Megan off her feet when she saw it. Out in the Ackles family, the old adage of "it's the thought that counts" really held true.
Jared pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it over, "We could go back there tomorrow loaded up with real beef and whiskey and she'd welcome us. She'd welcome us back even if we came with nothing, but the second you hand her a credchip, tell her that you're paying her for room and board, she would toss your butt back to the city and tell you not to come back until you grew some sense."
"Oh..." her eyes widened, the message sinking in. She looked down at the credchip. "So, with Jensen...?"
"Yeah, he's pretty much the same as his mom. And," Jared shook his head. "The timing kinda sucked; he's been stressed out over the whole Genevieve thing. I kinda fucked things up between us. We were planning on just relaxing, talking things out today. I know he's been pissed with me and there's been a few things that have really gone badly. Kinda need to fix it."
"I'm really sorry, Jay, I didn't... I didn't think that... I just wanted to make sure that he knew we appreciated what he'd done for us," she was close to crying again.
"It's okay, hon," Jared assured her, "I'll take care of it. Just next time... Try a hug?"
"Okay," she hugged him.
"Now, scoot, squirt," he smiled, "I gotta find Jensen and smooth things out, okay?"
She nodded, "Tell him I'm sorry. Please?"
"I will, don't worry. You go talk to JD," Jared said, "We'll have dinner later, all together."
She forced a smile, wiping at her eyes. Squaring her shoulders, she left the office. Jared leaned back heavily against his desk, cursing. What else could go wrong? They'd had a nice plan for the day, and he'd even managed to start healing the problems between them.
He sighed. Jensen hadn’t called back yet. He tried Jensen's cell again but the same voicemail answered him. He clicked the phone closed. Reaching over, he pulled his desk phone closer to him and pressed the button that would connect him with security.
"Yes, sir?"
Jared took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice light and calm, "Have you got a location on Jensen Ackles?"
"One moment, sir," the voice answered, "Mister Ackles is not in the building. Front desk registers that he left about ten minutes ago."
“Left?” Jared pulled the phone closer, leaning down, "Did he sign out a car?"
"Let me just..." the voice trailed off, "No, sir. Front desk says that he handed in his tracker and his security pass, sir. Do you want me to dispatch a team?"
"No," Jared said, just a little too quickly, "No, that's okay. Thank you."
Jensen had handed in his tracker and his security pass? That was...that was major. Without the clearance, Jensen wouldn't just be able to walk back in. He’d have to have someone vouch for him until he was reissued his clearance. Not a problem, more an annoyance than anything else, but without his tracker, there was no way to simply find him, and Jensen was damned good at hiding if he didn't want to be found. And the feeling of lead in the bottom of his stomach was starting to make him think that maybe, just maybe, Jensen was about to disappear into the mess that was the lower parts of Dallas.
He knew that Jensen was upset, but tossing everything and walking? Jared couldn't believe it. Maybe he was just taking some time, walking it off. It had been a very tough couple of weeks and they'd fallen apart but was that enough to make Jensen walk away? Christ, he hoped not. He needed to find Jensen, he needed to talk to him. He needed to do something.
He flicked open his cell and scrolled down to Josh's number, pressing the call button. It rang once, twice and then clicked. He could hear laughter on the other end and then Josh's voice, "Yello? Jared, what's up?"
Jared couldn't bring himself to say the words.
"Jay? You there?"
His voice was quiet when he spoke, "Yeah, Josh, I'm here."
"What's up?" Josh asked, worried now.
"He's gone," Jared said, "At least I think he is."
"The hell..." there was a scuffle on the other end of the phone and then silence. Jared checked his display. The call was still connected. "What do you mean he's gone? The fuck have you done?"
"He just walked, dropped his stuff off at reception and left."
"Did he say why? Did you talk to him? How’d it go?" Josh asked, "Maybe he's just gone to clear his head. You know how he gets when everything's getting on top of him."
Jared took a deep breath, "There was no talk. Stuff happened last night. We were going to take the day off. Just the two of us, spend some time together and talk, ya know? But something happened and I think it might just have put him over the edge, Josh."
Josh's voice went cold, "What happened, Jared?"
"The situation with Genevieve went kinda south last night and it kinda looked like we were… You know? But it wasn’t. We didn’t… I explained it to him and it was okay, or getting there anyway. Then… I think that... Megan tried to pay Jensen for the past three years," Jared explained, "He dropped it on my desk and walked out. I think... I think that was it. He just walked after that,” Jared scrubbed his face with a hand, “He's gone, Josh, and I don't know where. Would he… I mean… Is he…?"
"What? Why would she do that?" he asked.
"She thought that she was doing a good thing, but..." Jared broke off.
"Okay, but why would that...?" Josh asked.
"I don't know, Josh. I don't know. I just..." Jared stopped, "Things have been bad, Josh. I’ve been… Fuck, I’ve been an idiot. I gotta find him. I need to explain everything to him. Make it up to him. I need him, Josh. I… Fuck… I need him."
"What do you want from me?" Josh asked.
Jared sighed heavily, "I'm going out to find him but if you hear from him first... Just…"
Josh cut in, "If I hear from him first, I'll talk to him and then if he wants me to, I'll call you. I know Jen and if he’s all up in his own head, then I’ll see if I can straighten him out but if he doesn’t wanna talk to you, Jay, then you won’t hear from him again. Won’t hear from either of us."
The conversation ended with a click, leaving Jared looking at his phone. He snapped it closed and grabbed a jacket and his keys and left. By his estimation, Jensen had twenty, maybe thirty minutes on him. It didn't sound like much but to an experienced runner like Jensen, five minutes was an eternity. Thirty seconds was enough to drop someone and disappear into the crowd leaving chaos as the only sign that you'd been there. But if he didn't do this, if he didn't search, then he didn't deserve Jensen. He wasn't even sure that he did deserve Jensen but damned if he wasn't going to try. Jensen was the other part of his soul. Without him, he was lost. All this, the company, making sure that Megan had a future before fading back onto the streets to live a fast and eventful life, everything, was so fucking meaningless given that the love of his fucking life just walked out the front door.
He left his office, slamming the door. Mirabel jumped at the sound.
“Sir?” Mirabel got to her feet, trotting to keep up with him. “Sir, where…? I wish you’d reconsider this. You really can’t afford to take the day. And with him gone, there are so many other…”
Jared rounded on her, fists clenching, “What did you say?”
“I said that you really can’t afford…”
“No, you said, with him gone,” Jared’s voice was low, cold and dangerous. “You knew. You knew he was gone when I asked you, didn’t you? I could have caught him. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“Well, I…”
Jared cut her off, drawing heavily on the years he spent running as Colt, “Get out of my building. Get out now. A security guard will pack your desk but I want you gone and if you even breathe on the street outside this building, I will have you in a cell so fast that you’ll leave skid marks on the tarmac.”
He clicked his fingers and a security guard stepped up. “Get her out of here. And I really don’t care if you have to throw her. She talks to no one. She takes nothing. Just get her out of here. Let front desk know that if anyone lets her back in that they’ll be on the streets faster than they can believe possible.”
Leaving the guard to do his job, he stalked off. He heard Mirabel's protest behind him but didn't even look back. He had more important things to do right now. Screw this. Screw everything. Jensen was out there somewhere and he wouldn't stop until he found him.
Next Chapter
Author name: deannawol
Artist name: grayscaled
Genre: RPS AU
Pairing: Jensen/Jared
Rating: NC-17 / R
Word count: 66,666
Warnings: Slash (M/M) relationship, oral sex, violence, language, angst .
Summary: J2 Cyberpunk AU; Three years ago, Christian Kane betrayed Jared Padalecki and killed most of his family. Mercenary Jensen Ackles saved him and his younger sister Megan and brought them to live with them out in the wilds of Texas. Jared's been training and is finally ready to take Kane on to win back his family's corporate empire. However, the course of true love never runs smoothly and in regaining what he's lost, he's put everything he loves in jeopardy, including his partner and lover, Jensen. A J2 Romance in a Cyberpunk AU setting.
Link to Fic Masterpost: Link
Link to Art Masterpost: Link
Previous Chapter
Laughing, Jared fetched Genevieve's coat and helped her into it. It was still warm outside but the wind had enough of a chill that Genevieve didn't want to chance a cold. He'd had a genuinely good time tonight. People had been every bit as stuffy as he'd imagined they'd be but Genevieve's quick wit and whispered comments had kept him smiling the whole way through. It had been a bit of a disappointment that he couldn't bring Jensen but at least he'd had some decent company. And speaking of his boyfriend, there Jensen was, a finger on the activation button for his throat mic, a dark look on his face as he spoke. Stone followed on behind, talking quietly into his own mic. Their voices were quiet, but he could just about make out what Jensen was saying.
"Sure, Morgan," Jensen said, "I'll take care of it. You just get it sorted there. Keep me updated."
"Problems?" Jared asked, his voice low.
"Yeah, small issue back at home," Jensen explained, "Building's evac'ed. Will be until they get it cleared up."
Jared frowned, "The hell? What happened?"
"JD says that he found something in the apartment,” Jensen ran a hand through his hair. “Mac said that she called him in after she noticed a suspicious package. Either way it was enough to get them hitting the panic buttons and get the whole building cleared."
"Something? Suspicious package?" Jared’s voice rose, "Jen, you're not exactly big with the facts here."
Looking around, Jensen leaned in, his breath brushing the back of Jared's ear, "About a pound of C6 hidden, wired to a remote control. Backup timer."
Jared couldn't speak, the words sticking in his throat. Sure, Jensen had been behind him the whole time, watching just in case someone did something, but he'd never really thought that someone would actually try something. That much explosive would level the top ten floors and dangerously damage another ten. Easily.
"JD got Meg out okay?" Jared asked.
"Mac got her out the second she hit the panic button. They’re staying overnight with some guys I know. They'll keep them there, protect them until it’s all clear," Jensen shrugged.
"Street guys?" Jared asked.
"Yeah, some guys I used to run with way back. Owe me a couple of favours. White knights, so they're golden until we're done."
Jared sighed in relief, "Thanks man."
"No sweat. I figure we'll crash somewhere low key for the rest of the night, wait for the all clear," Jensen said, taking a look around again.
"Cool, let me just grab my stuff and we'll go."
Jensen stepped back. He exchanged a look with Stone and nodded.
Frowning, Jared looked between Jensen and Stone. They had their own language going, one that didn't need words. Hand signals and directions, that’s all it took. Jared could understand most of it from his time running with Jensen on the streets but there were new signals in there, stuff he didn’t know, couldn’t recognise. Memories of their time working the streets came flooding back and the savage twist of jealousy took him by surprise. He hadn't had much time with Jensen recently. Everything was rushed. And now more than ever, he just wanted to get back there. This thing with Genevieve was good - she was good - decent company but he wanted out of this fake world. Plastic smiles and subtle insults, he hated it but until he got everything patched up for Megan, he was stuck here.
Tapping his date on the shoulder, he spoke softly, "Hey Genevieve, we gotta go."
"Something wrong?" Genevieve asked from beside him.
"Nah, it's all under control. Jen's got it sorted out. But I need to find somewhere to crash tonight."
Genevieve smiled, "That's no problem. You and Jensen can stay with us."
Jared looked to Jensen. All he wanted to do was get out of here, relax, pull off the tux and chill. A beer, maybe some takeout and private time with his boy. He didn’t want Genevieve to throw a scene, not after such a good evening.
But before Jensen could say anything, Stone stepped forward, shaking his head, "Um, not a good idea, Genevieve. We got press sitting on the doorstep. Will do until after the election. It'd be all over the 'net in seconds. Wouldn’t look good with your dad playing up the family values card."
Putting his hand on Stone's shoulder, Jensen smiled, "We don't wanna bring this down on you guys. Gut tells me this is an inside job but just in case, we're gonna keep the possible threats down. We'll grab a motel tonight. Watch some cable and grab some sleep. Our guys are working on tracking whoever did it and putting them down. Shouldn't be too much longer until we get the all clear."
"Yeah, Jensen’s right,” Jared agreed, “but thanks for the offer, Genevieve."
Jared wrapped an arm around her waist and squeezed gently. When he looked back at Jensen, he saw a flash of something in his eyes but it was gone before he could be sure exactly what it was that he saw.
"We'll keep you company," Genevieve said, cheerfully oblivious to the undertones, and Jared swore he could see Jensen’s fists clench.
Stone didn't look too happy at her pronouncement either, "Genevieve, can I have a word?"
She shook her head, "Nope," she smirked, "Come on, we can't leave them like this. I insist."
Jensen looked at Jared, then at Stone. Stone just shrugged. It looked like he wasn't even going to try to reason with Genevieve. Hell, Jared had only known her for a week and he already knew that arguing with her was going to get him nowhere. He shrugged and Jensen closed his eyes for a second, sighing heavily, "Okay, I guess you guys get to come with us. It's going to be boring though. Just so you know."
"More or less boring than spending a night at home and avoiding all windows just in case the photographers want to take my picture?" she asked.
"Pretty much the same, I guess" Jensen shrugged.
"Okay then, that's settled," she smiled.
Jared shrugged, "Then I guess we're ready."
Jensen got into the drivers seat and Genevieve jumped into the back, patting the seat beside her. Stone grabbed the front seat leaving Jared to sit in the back, strapping in as Jensen turned the engine over and took off. The conversation was stilted, with Genevieve chattering away in his ear. Stone seemed to be tuning it out, watching behind in the mirrors and Jensen was focused so hard on the road in front that Jared wasn’t sure the road wouldn’t disappear if Jensen did much more than blink. They drove around the city for forty minutes before Jensen swung the wheel sharply and pulled into a middle of the road motel seemingly at random.
"Stone, standard side by side on the second, yeah?"
Stone nodded and climbed out of the car, making his way to the office as Jensen watched the streets. Turning slightly in his seat, Jared watched the cars, checking for any occupied cars. Any with the engines on. Nothing suspicious, the coast was clear.
"So what are we doing about the room arrangements?" Genevieve asked from the backseat.
Jared was a little puzzled by the question, "Well, I guess it's going to be Jen and me in one room and you and Stone in the other. Why?"
"Just thinking. I know we're lost in the suburbs here but what if we're seen?"
Jared let his head thump back against the glass of the window. She was probably right, but all he wanted to do was curl up with Jensen. Turn on a little crappy pay-per-view, make out a little, maybe get laid for the first time in too fucking long. But now she had a point. As much as he wanted to tell her to take a flying leap, he knew she was right. If anyone did see them coming out of the same room, then it would wreck all the publicity they'd been working so hard to get.
"It's a random motel in a run down part of town. News crews only make it this far if they've got a full compliment of police with them and there ain't any picture worth that much hassle to get," Jensen sounded tired.
Genevieve rolled her eyes, "It's not the news crews that I'm worried about.” She turned to Jared, neatly cutting Jensen out of the discussion, “You've been all over the news since you came back to town, Jay. I doubt there's anyone in the city who wouldn't recognize you. And news stations pay for pictures no matter how bad they are. All we need is one guy with a cellphone to snap the wrong picture and the company crashes. Stock prices will tumble. People will stop taking your meetings," she paused, reaching out to touch Jared's arm, "You said that everything was falling into place. It would be a shame to get this far and then fall at the last step. Come on Jay, think about this."
Jared looked to Jensen, but his boyfriend wasn't looking back, just staring out through the windscreen, eyes fixed on the street.
"Jen?" Jared asked, looking to see what had Jensen's attention.
"This is all you, Jay. Your choice. Your decision. Whatever you think best."
Jared was surprised to hear the cold tone in Jensen's voice. Reaching out, he touched Jensen on the arm. Jensen looked down at his hand and then up at Jared and he smiled, but Jared could see that it wasn't quite reaching Jensen's eyes.
"Whatever you want to do, Jay," he shrugged, "I'm probably gonna be awake most of the night so it doesn't make much difference to me."
"Okay then. I guess that we could..."
Genevieve interrupted, "Okay then, it's decided. Jared and I in one room and you and Stone in the other taking turns pacing and worrying. Least this way, you won't keep us awake."
He could see the flinch on Jensen's face before it transformed back to the so fucking perfect stoic mask that everyone else got to see. Jared knew it well enough from their days on the street but Christ, he never expected to see Winchester's best blank mask directed at him. He wanted to ask what was wrong but now wasn’t the best time. He flicked a glance at Genevieve, still prattling about this great 'adventure'. Jensen wouldn’t be exactly open or honest with an unconnected witness watching on from the sidelines.
The car door opened and Stone dangled a key from his finger, "Jared, here ya go. Genevieve, we got the room next door."
Jensen spoke up, shaking his head, "Sorry Stone, you get to deal with my snoring."
“Awesome, man.”
Jared could tell from the clenched jaw that Jensen wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as Stone. Jensen climbed out of the car and grabbed two overnight bags from the trunk, leaving Stone to trail after him like an over-enthusiastic puppy. Jared watched Jensen pull the bags out. Why the hell were there two overnight bags in the trunk? He didn't have time to ask before Jensen dropped one of the bags at his feet.
"Clothes, toiletries, armour and a spare handgun, just in case," Jensen explained. "Ammo is in there too. You've got your phone with you. I've got mine. You see anything, hear anything, you call. I'm gonna be on the phone to Morgan for most of the night. I’ll grab Stone’s phone for that. He doesn’t know that number, and anyone listening in can’t trace it as easily as they could mine. Company network and all that shit. But I mean it though, you get so much as an itchy feeling, you dial. You got that?"
Jared wanted to say something, but Jensen was already grabbing the keys to check out the rooms. Stone waited with them until Jensen gave the all clear. Jared bounded up the stairs, wanting to get to Jensen, to say something, to find out exactly what was up before Genevieve and her bodyguard arrived.
"Okay, JD," Jensen was on the phone, "we're gonna stay out until morning, see how it is then. So what have you found out?"
Jensen saw him and pointed at the phone, stepping into one of the rooms to let him pass. Jared's heart fell at the dismissal but the sound of footsteps behind him made him swallow down the feeling and move past to the other room. He dumped his bag on the floor and pulled off his tie, tossing it on a chair. The jacket came next. He looked up and saw Genevieve standing in the doorway, watching him.
"You okay, Jay?"
Jared could hear the tightness in his voice as he answered, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Yeah, I can see that," she smiled, closing the door, "You need to talk?"
He sighed, shaking his head, "Nah, I'm good."
"So what you..."
She was interrupted by Jared's phone. He picked up his jacket and fished it out of his pocket. Josh's name flashed on the display. He clicked it open, answering it.
"Josh, you okay? Everyone okay out there?" he asked, a little worried. Josh never called him. He always called Jensen. Always.
"So I was talking to my brother earlier and I kinda got the feeling that something is up with him, you got any idea?" Josh demanded, not bothering to say hello.
Jared could hear some noise in the background but nothing distinct.
He sighed heavily, "We got some shit going down here. Someone's trying to kill us again."
"So it's a Saturday, yeah?" Josh joked, "Listen, I know Jensen when he’s worked up over stuff like threats and I know Jensen when he’s just plain worked up and I gotta say, I'm not thinking that this is a threat. So what's got him riled?"
Jared pushed a hand through his hair. Genevieve was standing there, watching him. He held up a finger and disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door after him. He liked her well enough. She'd worked her way up to a good friend in this last few days but he wasn't sure he wanted to have this conversation in front of her.
"I dunno, Josh, the whole situation, it's taking a lot outta both of us," Jared rested his ass against the sink. "Don't think there's been more than five minutes where we could just sit down and talk. Hell..." he moved the phone from one ear to the other, "...we haven't had any time that was just us that wasn't taken over by sleeping in weeks."
"And the great idea of having him as your security?" Josh asked.
Jared shrugged, "Just kinda happened. You were there when we stormed the building. You saw how he was, straight back into it, watching my back. He hasn't stopped since and, I guess, somewhere along the line, it just kinda happened. Everyone was seeing him as the bodyguard and..."
He stopped, trying to get the words out, "He seems okay with it. We haven't really talked about it. Every time I go to leave the office there's always one more thing. And... I don't know what's up with him, Josh. I'm not sure I know what's up with me. I just-- I'm sick of this corp bullshit."
"So tonight then? Things like that happen often?"
"The Mayor's ball or the threat? No, in either case," Jared frowned.
"No, not some ball and not some little shit trying to end you, Jay, the fact that you've got a girl hanging off your arm while Jen is standing on the other side of the room and watching as you get your jollies on with her," Josh was angry now, almost shouting, "Dude, you gotta be blind if you don't see that there's something fucked up with that situation. You have a boyfriend. My brother. So what the hell are you hiring a date for?"
"JD said...” Jared trailed off, “I mean, Mirabel said..."
Put like that he could see that yes, there was definitely something wrong with the whole thing. He’d been working on autopilot so damned long that he hadn’t spared even two seconds to think before agreeing. Fuck. The fuck had he done?
"I dunno who the hell Mirabel is but Morgan should know a damned sight better," Josh said, "And so should you. How the hell would you feel to see Jensen parading around with someone else? Inez had to do it for a job once. Once. The guy didn’t touch her, didn’t lay a damned finger on her and I wanted to tear him apart. Not like that tart who was all over you tonight," he paused and Jared could hear him taking some deep breaths. "You remember way back when you started going out with Jen, we had a chat about what I'd do to you if you hurt my brother? I'm trying very hard to keep myself from driving back to Dallas and doing just that. 'Cause he loves you, I'm gonna give you one chance, Jared. But know that this is your last one. You talk to him. Soon. Tonight. Sort this shit out. Dump that Mirabel bitch out a window if she gives you any shit. God knows you got enough of them on that tower building of yours. And if Morgan hassles you, send him out with her," Josh took another breath, his voice dropping a little, "But I mean it Jay, talk to him as soon as you can. Get everything straightened out. Last thing I wanna do is tell Momma that her baby boy is hurtin'."
"I will, Josh," Jared was finding it hard to breathe, "I promise. I'll talk to him."
"Well... Good," Josh sounded better now, "Give my love to Mac and Meg. Tell them I was asking after them, yeah? Tell them to take care of themselves."
"Yeah. Sure. No problem," Jared agreed, his voice quiet.
"Then, let’s never have a conversation like this again, man," Josh sighed, "I like you, Jay, but Jen... Jen's my brother. It comes down to him or you, I'm gonna be on his side every time and I don't want to see him... you know."
Jared nodded, forgetting to say the words.
"Not if there's anything I can do to help it," Josh quieted down for a second, "I'm gonna be up in the city again next month probably but if you need anything before then... Well, you got my number, yeah?"
Jared forced the words out, "Y... yeah."
"Okay then, talk to you soon, Jay. And take care of him for me."
"I will," he promised and meant it with all his heart.
Josh hung up but Jared still held the phone to his ear as he stared off into space. He could feel the guilt like a pain in his chest as it all came crashing down on him. Up until a week ago, up until that first meeting with Genevieve, everything had been okay. Rushed as all Hell but they'd been okay. Hadn’t they? Sure they didn't do much more than cuddle at night but at least it was just them. Then Jensen would wake him up in the morning, make sure he knew what was happening for the day. It was just him and JD watching out for him. Just the two of them. Family. Jensen was there for him always, stood behind him when he could, or outside the door when he couldn't. Close. Always. He was there. The whole time. But then a week ago happened and the 'dates' started and...
Shit.
Jensen had left his family; his mom, his brother, everyone. He’d left his life for Jared. Moved into the corporate world, a world he hated just for him and then he'd had to watch Jay go to romantic dinners with someone else just ‘cause it would look good in the news. He'd watched the dates from the sidelines. The 'indiscretions' staged for the cameras. The hand holding. The gestures that it took to convince everyone there was something happening. Some unmistakable chemistry playing between them. And it worked. To the whole world, it looked like Jared Padalecki had a new girlfriend but Jensen knew better. He had to know better. It was the two of them against the world. Just like it always was. Wasn’t it? They hadn't had much of a chance to talk about it, but it this was just business. Genevieve was posing as his girlfriend. Nothing more than that. And true, they'd gotten close over the past week but it was friendship. Just friendship. They’d clicked, sure, but nothing out of the ordinary. He was still going back to Jensen at night. He still wanted to go back to Jensen at night. And now... Jensen was...
The self-satisfied, smirking face of Christian Kane came to mind. And try as he might to wipe it from his mind, it was still there. How the hell was he different from that bastard? He was just hiring from another agency. He forced himself to look in the mirror, half convinced that he’d see Kane’s eyes looking back at him, mocking him. He should have said no. He should have told them where to shove their ideas. How the hell was Jensen still with him? How could he stand to lay down beside him at night? How?
Shit.
He really needed to talk to Jensen. Now.
Jared clicked his phone closed and shoved it back in his pocket. He pulled open the door and made his way out to the main room. Genevieve was on the bed, lying back against the wall. He looked down and away from her, hiding his face.
"Jay? Jared, you okay?" Genevieve sat up straighter. "Oh my God!" She bounce-pushed herself off the bed, running to his side, "What's wrong, Jay?"
"I gotta... Just, I gotta go talk to..." Jared tried.
"You gotta sit down a minute and tell me what's wrong."
Jared's chest heaved, "I gotta..."
His breath caught and wouldn't release. His chest was tight. Tingles ran down his arm, making his fingers itch. Panic made it's way into his eyes as he pulled at his collar. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. He barely registered Genevieve's hand on his arm as she led him over to the bed and pushed him down. The room was spinning now and he clutched the bedclothes trying to keep the world from moving but he could feel himself falling. Dark spots played around the corners of his vision, closing in fast. His heart thundered in his ears and he just couldn’t catch his breath. This couldn’t be happening. His toxin scrubbers should have been able to cancel out any poisons so it couldn’t be that. He tried to call out but he just couldn’t get the words out. He needed Jensen. A bag was pushed into his hands and he held it to his mouth, a soft voice telling him to breathe. In and out. In and out. Jared tried to work on slowing things down but the darkness was catching up with him. Catching up until everything went black.
Jared woke up with fingers combing through his hair. He moved a little, looking around. He was lying on the bed, his head in Genevieve's lap as she brushed his hair back from his forehead.
"Hey, honey, you feeling better?" she asked.
Jared blinked, taking stock of himself, "Think… Think so. What happened?"
"You had a panic attack. Passed out," she smiled, "I'm just glad that I managed to get you to the bed before you did. You weigh a ton."
"Do not," Jared pouted.
Genevieve quirked an eyebrow, "You've been out a couple of hours, Jay. Guessing you must have been worn out."
"It's been a rough couple of weeks," he admitted.
"I'll bet it has," she smiled, "So you wanna tell me what that panic attack was about? Must have been something big to get you worked up like that."
Jared frowned as he thought back.
"Shit!" he cursed, "I have to talk to Jensen. He must be going outta his mind. Where is he?"
“I didn’t tell him. Or Stone.”
“You didn’t…” It took Jared a minute to process. “You didn’t tell him? Why the hell not?”
“It was just a panic attack, Jay. No big deal. You just needed to calm down and everything would be okay. My sister used to get them all the time.”
He pushed himself up. The room swam in front of him and he fell back.
“Gotta find Jensen.”
"Take it easy, baby," Genevieve soothed.
“Baby? The hell?” Jared asked.
The door opened to reveal Jensen. Jared started to smile but it died as soon as he saw the expression on his face. His eyes were hard green, blazing with anger and just a hint of hurt. His shoulders were rigid, his lips were a thin line. Then his expression blanked, all traces of anger and hurt vanishing behind Winchester's professionally blank expression. Jared frowned, confused and disoriented, trying to figure out why Jensen was looking at him like he was a client. What could possibly be... A cold breeze tickled him and he looked down to find himself down to his boxers. Genevieve was wearing his shirt, long legs visible under the hem. Jared pushed himself up again, ignoring the spinning room.
"Jensen, it's not what you..."
Jensen spoke over him, "Morgan has the guy. We can go."
Jared reached out but Jensen had disappeared again. Genevieve was at his arm, rubbing soothing circles on his back but Jared shoved her back.
"You… Why the hell are you wearing my shirt? And what the hell happened my clothes?”
“Baby, you gotta calm down,” she was trying to drag him back toward the bed, but he shrugged her off, just looking at the empty doorway. “You’ll get yourself worked up again. Do you want me to tell Stone that we need a minute?”
“Genevieve. Stop this!” He moved away from her, putting some distance between them, “Shit!” he cursed. “Shit! I gotta..."
Jared didn't even know how to finish that sentence. He needed to talk to Jensen but it wasn't a five minute conversation. This wasn't something that he could just say a few words and then it would all be good. This had gone way too deep. He needed to sit Jensen down, talk to him, tell him that he was the only person for him. The thing with Genevieve? That was over. Soon as he got back to the office, Mirabel was going to be cancelling everything. He'd take the day. Hell, he’d take as long as it took. Fuck the schedule. There was nothing on it that couldn't be cancelled. Hell, Meg would be picking it up soon, maybe it was time to start her on some of the big stuff, give him a chance to get things straightened out.
Yes, he'd cancel everything today. Just spend the day with Jensen. They'd take the time to reconnect and talk things out. Then tomorrow, he’d do the same if he needed to.
He was starting to feel better already. He had a plan. Dinner, talking, then maybe a movie and then...well, Jared absolutely was not above offering sexual favours to make it up to Jensen.
He left the room. Genevieve was ahead of him, talking to Stone and casting worried glances in his direction. Jensen was making sure that they had everything. Jared fell into step beside him as he went down the stairs. But Jensen didn't even acknowledge his presence and the hopeful smile died a little.
He was relegated to the back seat again and conversation was even more stilted as they dropped off Stone and Genevieve, fading to non-existent as they turned for home. Jensen parked in the garage and muttered something about checking in, heading off for the security department. Jared had to run to get ahead of him and block his path.
“Jensen please,” Jared pleaded, “Don’t do this. We need to talk. Come up with me. Please?”
Jensen wouldn't meet Jared's eye, but he turned back towards the bank of elevators. Jared pressed the button and an elevator arrived. Jared almost herded Jensen on and pressed the button. It had just started to climb when Jared hit the emergency stop button. It stopped with a jerk, lights dimming a little. A red light blinked on the button panel.
"Jensen," Jared started, "I know what you think you saw in the room, but it really wasn't what it looked like. I swear."
Jensen just watched the elevator doors. Not even a muscle twitched.
"She was just looking after me."
An eyebrow raised a fraction and Jared pushed on.
"I had a panic attack last night," Jared's voice was quiet, "Couldn't breathe and passed out. I woke up about two minutes before you came in."
Jensen turned to look at him, hard eyes raking him over suspiciously, searching for any hint of a lie.
"I swear, I would never..." Jared trailed off, "I love you, Jensen. You're the only one that I want to be with. And I know the past few weeks have been a bit weird and with Gen..."
He could see the anger bubbling up again, turning Jensen's eyes to green fire. The impassive expression didn't change.
"...and with everything else that's been going on, you and I haven't had much time together. And I'm going to fix that. Today," Jared spun Jensen to face him. He didn't offer much resistance, "I'm cancelling everything today. It's just going to be you and me. We'll spend some time together. Much as we need to get this sorted out. Get everything sorted out. We’ll talk about it, yeah?"
"And the thing with Genevieve?" Jensen asked.
"Done," Jared said immediately, "I don't care how it looks. I want you by my side and not just as a bodyguard. I love you and I want the world to know it. Don’t care what anyone else thinks. It’s you and me. Always has been. And I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make this right."
Jensen's shoulders relaxed as he stared up at Jared. He wasn't letting himself smile yet, but Jared could see the warmth returning to his eyes.
"Anything you want to do today, we'll do. Anywhere you want to go, I'll make it happen," Jared promised, taking Jensen's hand in his, "Just tell me what you want, Jen and I'll do it."
Jensen watched him for a second before speaking, "I think I just want to spend a quiet day in."
"Then we'll do that," Jared's grin was threatening to cut his face in two. "Let me just tell Mirabel to cancel everything and we'll head up, okay?"
Jensen nodded and hit the emergency stop button. The elevator whined and started again, rolling up to the executive floor. The doors pinged open and Jared saw Mirabel standing there, clipboard in hand.
"Ah, there you are," she looked over her half moon glasses, "I was starting to think that I was going to have to send for building maintenance."
Jared held up a hand, "Mirabel, I need you to cancel everything today. Reschedule it, cancel it. I don't care. But I am taking the day off."
"But Mister Padalecki, you can't..." she started.
Jared interrupted, "Last I checked, it says Chief Executive Officer on that brass plate on my door. Unless that's changed, you gotta do what I say, and I say cancel everything."
He turned and looked back at Jensen, smiling, "I'm thinking crappy movies, more food than we can possibly eat and beer. Definitely beer. What do you think?"
Mirabel's lips pulled tight, "Mister Padalecki, this irresponsibility... I cannot simply cancel all these appointments. These have been set up weeks in advance and they are vital to the operation of this company. Several of the negotiation sessions are at a crucial stage, to put them off now..."
"Mirabel, I don't care how you do it, just... Make it happen," Jared directed.
"But the Takayama delegation is waiting in the conference room, I can't simply waltz in there and tell them that you can't meet with them," she was getting shrill, "That sort of thing just isn't done! They've flown from Japan especially for this meeting."
"Then they can take in the sights today and we'll do it first thing tomorrow," Jared shrugged, talking through his teeth.
Mirabel opened her mouth but Jensen spoke first, "Jay, maybe it would be easier if you talked to them, explained the situation?"
"If he's going to do that, then he might as well just go to the meeting," she was getting snooty now.
Jared clenched his fists. She’d been polite to him, well as polite as she got, but once Jensen spoke, she cut the argument right out from under him. Was this what she always did? Was this what Jensen had to put up with? No, couldn’t be. Jensen would have said something. Wouldn’t he? Jared added another item to the growing list of shit they needed to talk about. He turned slowly, using every bit of his height to tower over the woman.
"Mirabel, if you have a problem doing your job, tell me now and I'll get HR to take care of it."
She said nothing but paled slightly. Her fingers tightened around the clipboard. She pushed her glasses up her nose and took a deep breath, "I'm sure that won't be necessary, sir."
"Okay," Jared ran a hand through his hair, "Mirabel, go cancel the rest of my appointments for today. Send anything minor to Meg, get JD to sit with her, tell him to step in if she needs it. I'll meet with the Takayama delegation, tell them what's been happening; see if they can do this tomorrow instead, work something out if they can't," he turned to Jensen and took his hand. "Would you mind waiting in the office? I'll be ten minutes, fifteen max."
Jensen smiled back, green eyes twinkling, "Don't sweat it. I'll survive ten minutes, so long as it is just ten minutes," he leaned in and kissed Jared softly, "Come get me when you're done."
Jared smiled, "I swear, ten minutes. I'll be back in no time."
Jensen turned and headed towards the office, looking back over his shoulder at Jared just before he turned down another corridor. Jared smiled back, "Conference room four?"
Mirabel nodded, ignoring Jared's cool tone, and Jared headed towards the room. He stopped just before he reached the double doors and used a piece of glass as a mirror, tucking his hair behind his ear and straightening his clothes. There was only so much he could do with last nights tux, but at least he looked mostly presentable. He flipped through the options on his cyberware, searching for the Japanese language chip he’d installed shortly after retaking the company and flicking it on. Text scrolled across his vision as the translation program started. Wasn’t perfect, but would give him the gist of what they were saying.
The delegation was immaculately turned out, all high class suits and briefcases. They stood and looked at him as he pushed the door open, bowing as he stepped into the room. Jared inclined his head towards the man leading the delegation.
"Mister Padalecki, it is a pleasure to meet you," the man said in English, his voice overly formal and thick with a Japanese accent, "I am Mushiyu Takayama, eldest son of Mayoku Takayama. He sends his apologies that he was not able to meet with you today but unfortunately his health does not permit him to travel. He means no disrespect to you or to your family by sending me in his place. He holds you in the highest of regards and hopes that we will be able to reach agreement on this matter today."
Five pairs of eager eyes watched him closely, trying to read him, probably trying to head off any displeasure that might be brewing. Jared considered his options, pulling up some of the briefing notes he’d taken the day before. He scanned the notes as they scrolled across his vision, stopping when he found what he wanted. This was their first time in the States.
"Mister Takayama, please assure your father that I hold nothing against him for his health. I hope that he is feeling better," Jared kept his speech equally formal.
"Age unfortunately has no cure," Takayama looked down, saddened.
Jared felt like a heel, "My apologies. Perhaps I can make it up to you. I understand that this is your first time in our city."
Takayama nodded.
"Then please allow me to arrange a tour of Dallas for you before we meet to close the contract," Jared said, watching the delegation closely, "There are many things to see and I do not know when you will be back with us again."
There was some chattering in Japanese which Jared followed as it ticker-taped across the bottom of his screen and finally Takayama held up a hand, silencing his advisors.
"This would be most acceptable. I fear that this may be the last time that I will have the freedom to explore your culture outside of the board rooms," he bowed.
"Wonderful, I'll get my personal assistant to set up an itinerary for you. Please feel free to connect to our network and view some of our information files for places you'd like to visit," Jared shook Takayama's hand firmly, "Enjoy your day and I will meet with you again in the morning."
"Thank you."
Jared assured him that it was no problem and made his excuses. His heart was racing as he left the room. He tried to keep to a walk through the corridors but he had to keep reminding himself to slow down. CEO's shouldn't go racing through the building, even when all they wanted to do was hand everything off to someone else and disappear with their boyfriend.
Mirabel was sitting at her desk tapping away at the keyboard when he got to his office. She didn’t look up until he called her name. Her lips were pursed, all her answers short. He told her to set something up for the Japanese delegation and pulled open the door to his office, looking around for Jensen.
The room was empty. Jared frowned and ducked back out.
"Mirabel?" he asked, "You seen Jensen around?"
"No, sir," she answered, not even sparing him a look.
She was still in a snit. But fuck it, she was completely out of line earlier and he’d needed to call her on it. She’d had her own way for far too fucking long. Her with JD backing her up. And if he had time, he’d pin her to the wall but there was a more pressing matter. Jared stepped back into his office. Maybe Jensen had to take care of something before he could just vanish for the day, just like he had to. JD had been giving him a lot of the security work to do. Made sense that he couldn't just chuck a days work without making some arrangements. Jared scrubbed his hair with a hand. How did he not know what Jensen had to do to get a day off? How had he no idea? What the hell had he been doing that he didn’t know?
He walked over to his desk, keeping an eye out for any note scribbled or stuck there. There was a small black credchip sitting on top of a folder, a post-it stuck to it with his name scrawled in Jensen's messy hand.
He had no idea where to start looking for Jensen. So he did the only thing he could. He pulled out his phone and dialled.
"Name and time, you know the drill."
The message was the usual abrupt voicemail message; simple and to the point. Jared sighed and waited for the beep.
"Hey Jen, it's me. Where are you? Call me. I’m in my office."
He hung up, and sat down heavily at his desk. Curious, he picked up the chip, turning it over. He pulled off the note. It was just his name. Jared looked through the folder underneath but it was just ordinary business stuff. Papers needing his signature, reports that he was supposed to look at. All the minutiae that came with running the company but nothing Jensen had ever expressed an interest in.
Curious, he tapped the chip against a finger. What was Jensen doing leaving him a credchip? He sat down and pulled the chip reader out from the top drawer of his desk. Slotting the chip in, he waited for the machine to process exactly how much was on the chip. It took a second for the blinking lights to resolve on a number but when it did, Jared almost dropped the machine.
Fuck, that was an awful lot of zeros.
Jared was confused now. Very confused. Why was Jensen leaving him a credchip? Why was Jensen leaving him a credchip with more money on it than he and Jensen had made in the entire time they'd been running together? More than even Jensen had probably made in total since leaving the army. It didn't make sense.
He hit refresh and the red lights blinked as it rescanned the chip. There was no change in the amount.
"The fuck?"
"What's up, Jay?"
He looked up to see Meg standing in front of his desk. He hadn't even heard her come into the office.
"Hey sis," he greeted her, putting the credchip and reader to one side. "Has Mirabel called you about picking up some of the meetings today?"
"Yeah, I'm just over to pick up the files," she smiled, "Anything I should know before I go in?"
“You picking up the MacNamara meeting? Don’t forget that he’ll need the…”
Megan cut in, “… the two year projections along with the updated production rates.”
“You read over them, yet?” Jared asked, digging out a file and handing it over.
“Glanced at them,” she took the folder, flicking through it. “All straight forward.”
“And Suchanne will want to talk about moving forward the dates but shut him down on that. He’s being an alarmist, don’t give him an inch.”
Megan nodded, “Yeah, got it. Maybe promise him an early option on the upgrade?”
"Sounds good. Everything else should be fairly straight forward. I've asked JD to sit in with you just in case anyone decides to be an idiot."
"I can deal with idiots, Jay," she smiled. “Been dealing with you for the last eighteen years, haven’t I?”
Jared huffed a laugh. "I know you can but I just want you to have some backup," he pushed his chair back and stood, walking around to the front of his desk, "He knows the business, Meg, use what he knows."
"Okay, I'll see about meeting up with him before the first meeting, go over what we know about the guys we're gonna be meeting with."
"Good," he frowned, "Incidentally, did you see Jensen on your way in?"
She looked around, "No, last time I saw him he was here."
"Here?"
"Yeah, about five minutes ago, just before Mirabel called," she answered, looking around, "I thought he'd still be here. He said you two were taking the day off."
"Yeah, that's the plan but," he shrugged, "You know anything about a credchip he left on my desk?"
"Oh... It’s Jensen’s. I just gave it to him," she said, a little puzzled, "I don't know why he left it on your desk," she shrugged, "Anyway, I wanted to do something for him. My staff said I should make it financial. I didn’t know but well, it seemed to make sense. I worked out the going rate for high end bodyguards - did you know that some of the permanently retained ones make over seven figures a year? - So, I multiplied it by the time that we were staying with the Ackles' and added in an approximation of rent and board, for him to pass on to Momma. I know that I probably should have doubled the amount. I mean, it wasn't just him taking care of us, it was the whole family but I think that it's working out to be a very fair number," she paused, looking at her older brother, "Jared, why are you looking at me like that?"
Jared was staring at Megan. He couldn't believe what she'd done.
It took him a minute to put the words together, "Meg, you're my little sister and I love you, but this has got to be the stupidest thing you've ever done."
"Huh?" she looked genuinely confused, "What did I do? Did I forget to add in something?"
Jared’s hand went to his face, covering his eyes. It dropped a little until it was covering his mouth as he bit back the first words that came to mind. He took a couple of deep breaths and pulled his hand down.
His voice was soft when he spoke, "Meg, you don't pay family for being family..."
"But dad used to pay JD and Samantha for taking care of us and they were family."
He took a deep breath, "They got paid to do their jobs. JD was in charge of making sure that we were safe and Sam was our tutor and housekeeper."
Megan opened her mouth to say something but Jared wasn't done.
"But that wasn't all they did," he continued, "Dad didn't pay JD to hunt under your bed for the vicious toe-chomping widget every night so that you could fall asleep and not wake screaming from the horrible nightmares you used to get. And he didn't pay Sam to babysit the two of us, or to crawl into bed with you after a hard day and hold you when you cried yourself to sleep when Dad was too busy to go to your recitals. They got paid to do their jobs, but the rest was because they cared. Dad could have announced that he couldn't pay them any more and they'd still have come around to make sure we were okay."
He stopped letting her take in the words.
"It's the same with the Ackles. Jensen didn't have to drag us with him back to the camp. He could have dumped us in the city or out in the desert. He could have let us just drive off, just you, me and Sam," he could feel the prickle of tears behind his eyes, "Hell, Meg, he didn't have to save us at all. He could have ransomed us back to Chris and made a shitload of money, but he didn't. He's just not that sort of person. Momma didn't have to take us in and feed us, but if she didn't she wouldn't have been Momma. How would Mac have felt if you tried to pay her for being your girlfriend? You’d be picking your ass up off the ground."
He could see the first track of a tear running down her face and he reached out, pulling her into a hug.
"Some people do things because they want to get something back and some people just do things. If Jen brought back that money to Momma she'd have been insulted. You've seen how she is when the boys bring back money. She won't take it, but she'll take food or parts for the vans and Jeeps. Stuff like that's the boys paying their way and making things better for the family, easier. She's a strong woman; she doesn't want handouts.”
He hugged her close before pulling back a little so he could see her, "You remember when she had her birthday a couple of months back. Entire family brought something, whether it was liquor, food or a busted down old jeep. And she shared it all out. She threw us a party and then got someone to fix up the jeep and declared it be used for patrols. We could have just given her the money for all of that, taken her out for a fancy dinner but I guarantee she was happier with how we did it. All her family around her. Everyone there." He smiled, remembering back, "And it meant that those people who just stay in the camp and don't go out, well, they weren't shamed because they couldn't afford to get her anything."
Megan had been one of the ones worried about that. Never leaving the camp, except for her turn on patrols and the occasional day out when someone took her training, she hadn't had any money to get Momma a present. Jared had picked up something small but pretty for her so she could give it to Momma. Momma had opened it and almost swept Megan off her feet when she saw it. Out in the Ackles family, the old adage of "it's the thought that counts" really held true.
Jared pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it over, "We could go back there tomorrow loaded up with real beef and whiskey and she'd welcome us. She'd welcome us back even if we came with nothing, but the second you hand her a credchip, tell her that you're paying her for room and board, she would toss your butt back to the city and tell you not to come back until you grew some sense."
"Oh..." her eyes widened, the message sinking in. She looked down at the credchip. "So, with Jensen...?"
"Yeah, he's pretty much the same as his mom. And," Jared shook his head. "The timing kinda sucked; he's been stressed out over the whole Genevieve thing. I kinda fucked things up between us. We were planning on just relaxing, talking things out today. I know he's been pissed with me and there's been a few things that have really gone badly. Kinda need to fix it."
"I'm really sorry, Jay, I didn't... I didn't think that... I just wanted to make sure that he knew we appreciated what he'd done for us," she was close to crying again.
"It's okay, hon," Jared assured her, "I'll take care of it. Just next time... Try a hug?"
"Okay," she hugged him.
"Now, scoot, squirt," he smiled, "I gotta find Jensen and smooth things out, okay?"
She nodded, "Tell him I'm sorry. Please?"
"I will, don't worry. You go talk to JD," Jared said, "We'll have dinner later, all together."
She forced a smile, wiping at her eyes. Squaring her shoulders, she left the office. Jared leaned back heavily against his desk, cursing. What else could go wrong? They'd had a nice plan for the day, and he'd even managed to start healing the problems between them.
He sighed. Jensen hadn’t called back yet. He tried Jensen's cell again but the same voicemail answered him. He clicked the phone closed. Reaching over, he pulled his desk phone closer to him and pressed the button that would connect him with security.
"Yes, sir?"
Jared took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice light and calm, "Have you got a location on Jensen Ackles?"
"One moment, sir," the voice answered, "Mister Ackles is not in the building. Front desk registers that he left about ten minutes ago."
“Left?” Jared pulled the phone closer, leaning down, "Did he sign out a car?"
"Let me just..." the voice trailed off, "No, sir. Front desk says that he handed in his tracker and his security pass, sir. Do you want me to dispatch a team?"
"No," Jared said, just a little too quickly, "No, that's okay. Thank you."
Jensen had handed in his tracker and his security pass? That was...that was major. Without the clearance, Jensen wouldn't just be able to walk back in. He’d have to have someone vouch for him until he was reissued his clearance. Not a problem, more an annoyance than anything else, but without his tracker, there was no way to simply find him, and Jensen was damned good at hiding if he didn't want to be found. And the feeling of lead in the bottom of his stomach was starting to make him think that maybe, just maybe, Jensen was about to disappear into the mess that was the lower parts of Dallas.
He knew that Jensen was upset, but tossing everything and walking? Jared couldn't believe it. Maybe he was just taking some time, walking it off. It had been a very tough couple of weeks and they'd fallen apart but was that enough to make Jensen walk away? Christ, he hoped not. He needed to find Jensen, he needed to talk to him. He needed to do something.
He flicked open his cell and scrolled down to Josh's number, pressing the call button. It rang once, twice and then clicked. He could hear laughter on the other end and then Josh's voice, "Yello? Jared, what's up?"
Jared couldn't bring himself to say the words.
"Jay? You there?"
His voice was quiet when he spoke, "Yeah, Josh, I'm here."
"What's up?" Josh asked, worried now.
"He's gone," Jared said, "At least I think he is."
"The hell..." there was a scuffle on the other end of the phone and then silence. Jared checked his display. The call was still connected. "What do you mean he's gone? The fuck have you done?"
"He just walked, dropped his stuff off at reception and left."
"Did he say why? Did you talk to him? How’d it go?" Josh asked, "Maybe he's just gone to clear his head. You know how he gets when everything's getting on top of him."
Jared took a deep breath, "There was no talk. Stuff happened last night. We were going to take the day off. Just the two of us, spend some time together and talk, ya know? But something happened and I think it might just have put him over the edge, Josh."
Josh's voice went cold, "What happened, Jared?"
"The situation with Genevieve went kinda south last night and it kinda looked like we were… You know? But it wasn’t. We didn’t… I explained it to him and it was okay, or getting there anyway. Then… I think that... Megan tried to pay Jensen for the past three years," Jared explained, "He dropped it on my desk and walked out. I think... I think that was it. He just walked after that,” Jared scrubbed his face with a hand, “He's gone, Josh, and I don't know where. Would he… I mean… Is he…?"
"What? Why would she do that?" he asked.
"She thought that she was doing a good thing, but..." Jared broke off.
"Okay, but why would that...?" Josh asked.
"I don't know, Josh. I don't know. I just..." Jared stopped, "Things have been bad, Josh. I’ve been… Fuck, I’ve been an idiot. I gotta find him. I need to explain everything to him. Make it up to him. I need him, Josh. I… Fuck… I need him."
"What do you want from me?" Josh asked.
Jared sighed heavily, "I'm going out to find him but if you hear from him first... Just…"
Josh cut in, "If I hear from him first, I'll talk to him and then if he wants me to, I'll call you. I know Jen and if he’s all up in his own head, then I’ll see if I can straighten him out but if he doesn’t wanna talk to you, Jay, then you won’t hear from him again. Won’t hear from either of us."
The conversation ended with a click, leaving Jared looking at his phone. He snapped it closed and grabbed a jacket and his keys and left. By his estimation, Jensen had twenty, maybe thirty minutes on him. It didn't sound like much but to an experienced runner like Jensen, five minutes was an eternity. Thirty seconds was enough to drop someone and disappear into the crowd leaving chaos as the only sign that you'd been there. But if he didn't do this, if he didn't search, then he didn't deserve Jensen. He wasn't even sure that he did deserve Jensen but damned if he wasn't going to try. Jensen was the other part of his soul. Without him, he was lost. All this, the company, making sure that Megan had a future before fading back onto the streets to live a fast and eventful life, everything, was so fucking meaningless given that the love of his fucking life just walked out the front door.
He left his office, slamming the door. Mirabel jumped at the sound.
“Sir?” Mirabel got to her feet, trotting to keep up with him. “Sir, where…? I wish you’d reconsider this. You really can’t afford to take the day. And with him gone, there are so many other…”
Jared rounded on her, fists clenching, “What did you say?”
“I said that you really can’t afford…”
“No, you said, with him gone,” Jared’s voice was low, cold and dangerous. “You knew. You knew he was gone when I asked you, didn’t you? I could have caught him. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“Well, I…”
Jared cut her off, drawing heavily on the years he spent running as Colt, “Get out of my building. Get out now. A security guard will pack your desk but I want you gone and if you even breathe on the street outside this building, I will have you in a cell so fast that you’ll leave skid marks on the tarmac.”
He clicked his fingers and a security guard stepped up. “Get her out of here. And I really don’t care if you have to throw her. She talks to no one. She takes nothing. Just get her out of here. Let front desk know that if anyone lets her back in that they’ll be on the streets faster than they can believe possible.”
Leaving the guard to do his job, he stalked off. He heard Mirabel's protest behind him but didn't even look back. He had more important things to do right now. Screw this. Screw everything. Jensen was out there somewhere and he wouldn't stop until he found him.
Next Chapter