Update July 15 2014 Come Pick Me Up - 07
Standing nervously in the doorway of the bedroom, Jensen looked around and the things that went through his mind were the most mundane things. He remembered where he bought the decorative pillows, remembered when they changed out the comforter for one that went better with the walls. There was no doubt he belonged in the room, every nook and every corner told him so but standing at the edge of the room he still felt like a stranger.
The room was almost too neat which made him think that Jared must have done a serious clean up job before he came home. Knowing Jared as he did he assumed the entire house would have been put under quarantine by the CDC by now. He was definitely glad it wasn't. It felt comforting as he went from room to room, seeing things he didn't think he'd ever see again. He had worked long and hard to build this home for them, it had been his 2nd job and it was for the most part a thankless job at that. Sure, when they had company the company would admire the careful work that Jensen put into decorating the house but to Jared it was not a showpiece, it was a home, a home to sleep and eat, a home to be with the ones he loved and who gave a damn if the Star Wars action figures he saved from childhood clashed with the overall theme of the TV room? Jared's justification for putting them in there? "I don't understand the problem. We watch Star Wars on the TV."
After his shower, Jared headed into their bedroom (it was truly “their” bedroom again) where he found Jensen perched cautiously on the edge of the bed, fingers digging into the soft of the comforter. The dull green eyes were heavily lidded at half-mast.
Jared sighed as he sat down next to him. Until right then he never thought of Jensen’s reaction to having to share their bed. He assumed his fiancé would be just as glad as he was glad to sleep in their bed. “Would you feel more comfortable if I slept in the spare room?”
“No. No…” Jensen paused in thought for a moment. His eyes winced and his shoulders made an uncomfortable motion. “Maybe. Maybe I should. You never slept real good in there and you need rest. You have work.”
It completely escaped him that he had never told him he quit his job. He just assumed Jensen figured it out with all the time he spent at the hospital. "It's okay, Jen. You stay here and I'll see you in the morning." He leaned in to kiss the top of Jensen's head.
Jensen watched him closely as he gathered up some things before stopping at the light switch. "Want me to leave the light on?"
"Yeah. Thanks.
"If you need anything just yell." Jared left and pulled the door closed behind him.
"Wait. Jay!"
Jared opened the door back up and looked at Jensen. "What's up?"
"Could you uh...maybe leave the door open too?"
"Sure thing. Night, Jen." Jared opened the door wide and headed down the hall to the spare room with the shitty mattress, leaving the hall light on before retiring to bed.
After that first night, they went days without full sentences spoken between them. Neither had known what to say to each other and it was growing more and more awkward. Having Jensen back made Jared feel like a predator in his own home, his every movement carefully watched and reviled by the man he loved. It was not how either of them imagined the homecoming to be.
The computer screen glowed as Ian worked in front of it late into the night arranging the images and thoroughly editing the scenes of his missing slave. He would show that whore who was in charge. No one got to leave before Ian was done with them and Ian was nowhere near finished with that one. He had no intention to ever be done with his pretty slave, well at least as long as he stayed pretty. Ian grinned as he ejected the DVD out of his computer.
Come Pick Me Up - 38
It took a few days for the unmarked yellow envelope to arrive. It was addressed to Jared.
Curiously, Jared ripped it open like a kid at his 5th birthday party. It was a single DVD, with no writing on the shiny silver orb to offer a hint as to what was on it. He didn't have a good feeling about his mystery package and put the DVD back into the envelope, deciding to watch it later when he was alone in his office.
It would have been easier if Jensen had checked out into some catatonic state for the past year. Jared cringed every time his fiancé jumped at the littlest thing, the microwave going off even the phone ringing had turned into shock treatment on his nerves but what was on the DVD, all of it the most disgusting, dehumanizing images of Jensen with the antagonists faces conveniently blurred out.
Horror stricken, Jared sat back in his chair as he watched the disgusting scenes before him. It was a train wreck, each image was worse than the next but he couldn't look away.
"That kinda thing turn you on?"
Jared jumped, he was so engrossed at the images on the screen he never noticed Jensen standing in the doorway. He scrambled to shut the lid of his laptop, silencing the voices, the cries, the grunts, the screams.
"If you're into that kind of thing now... you can do that to me too if you want." Jensen said casually, sticking close to the door frame.
Jared held up the envelope. "It... This came in the mail."
Jensen knew exactly where it was from, didn't need any explanation. That video was only the beginning he was sure of that. "He said if I ever made him really angry he'd make sure everyone saw what a whore I really was. You know, Ian... he uh won't kill me if I go back to him. He'll make me regret ever leaving but...he won't kill me. I was his favorite most of the time."
Jared shivered at the thought. If that's what the scum bag did to his "favorite" he couldn't imagine what he put the boys through that weren't.
"No, Jen. God No. You're not going back there. Ever."
"He *knows* where we live."
"Then we'll move."
"I don't remember all of them but it'll only take one to get to me to try to take me back to him. You can't watch me twenty-four seven. I've got this giant bulls eye on my back. And he's got people, Jay, so many people..."
Days were spent, unsuccessfully, trying to calm Jensen from his worry and get him back to his new normal. Jared wished over and over again that he had ended Ian's life the night he rescued Jensen. As long as Ian was alive and free he'd forever be the big bad wolf, lurking in the shadows of Jensen's mind.
When the second DVD arrived a few months later, Jared immediately got on the phone with a realtor. It killed him to do it. Jensen still loved this house and he didn't know where they would move to. He knew the DVD's were a scare tactic to keep Jen silent but he didn't want to take any chances. He couldn't stand by and watch as Jensen lived in fear all day every day.