Fic: Accidentally in love part two
Accidentally in Love
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Warnings: Angst. Schmoop. That’s about it.
Disclaimer: None of this is real, I know none of the involved parties.
Feedback: is love.
Summary: Jared and Jensen are both miserable following their breakup. Is an accident and a conversation enough to get them back together?
Beta: siubhlach, drusemia. They were fantastic, seriously, this fic wouldn't be what it is without them. I still played with it a bit when they were done, though, so all mistakes remaining are probably mine.
Notes: Sequel to “There’s a Fine Line” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”. Additional author’s notes at the end of the fic.
Jared was woken up by his phone ringing. It wasn’t that late, but he had gone to bed early to get a good start in the morning. He planned on going back up to Vancouver to try and talk to Jensen, see if maybe they could still work things out.
Clearing the sleep from his eyes, he grabbed his phone to answer the call.
“Uh, ‘lo?” he muttered sleepily into the phone.
Tom’s voice came across the line. “Jared, man, thank god. There’s been an accident. Jensen got hit by a car. He’s in surgery right now, and we don’t know if he’s going to pull through. You really need to get up here as soon as possible.”
“Okay, okay, I’m on my way. I’ll get the next possible flight out. I’ll be there soon. Thanks for calling me, Tom,” Jared told him.
“No problem. Let us know when to expect you.”
“Thanks again, Tom.”
Jared completely panicked, and did what the last three years had trained him to do: he called Sandy.
Sandy answered in a very sleepy voice, “ Hey, Jared, why are you calling me at this ungodly hour?”
“Sandy, I need some help. Jen’s had an accident.” Just saying the words drove the point further home, and Jared started crying quietly.
“Shit. Do you know how he is?”
“Not yet. I need to get back as soon as possible.”
“Okay, Jared, throw together a suitcase, and I’ll arrange tickets for you.”
“Thanks, Sandy, I appreciate it.”
“It’s no problem, honey, now go pack your suitcase. I’ll be there in forty minutes,” Sandy said before she disconnected the call.
Jared started gathering a few things together, but couldn’t concentrate on what he would need, so just grabbed a few shirts and jeans and crammed them into the suitcase.
After what felt like an eternity later, Sandy pulled up out front and honked her horn. Jared rushed out to the car and threw the suitcase in the backseat before jumping into the front.
“Thanks again Sandy. I really appreciate it.”
“It’s ok, hon. We’ll get you up where you need to be.”
On the way to the airport, Sandy tried to keep Jared chatting about this or that to keep his mind off of the accident. When they arrived, she walked him to his gate, and stood on tip-toe to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Take care of your man, Jare.”
“Thanks, Sandy,” Jared said as he walked toward his flight back to his home.
Just a short while later, he was back in Vancouver. Seeing Tom waiting in the airport, Jared walked over and grabbed him in a bear-hug. “Hey, man, thanks for coming to get me. How’s he doing, anyway?”
Tom took a deep breath. “Jared, man, I’m not going to lie to you. He isn’t in good shape. He was awake at first, but then he slipped under. It’s some sort of head injury and the doctors needed to operate to relieve the pressure. Right now, all we can do is wait for him to be out of surgery and hope.”
Jared felt his world shifting. While he had honestly thought that he had needed to break off his affair with the other man, he had never wanted him completely out of his life. And after he had seen what Jensen had been going through, he had thought that maybe they had a real chance at forming a permanent relationship. And then Jensen got himself hit by a damn truck. Jared could feel the resentment and anger rising to the surface again.
Tom watched Jared out of the corner of his eye. “Hey, man, are you alright?”
Jared turned a glare on Tom. “Not really. I’m pissed off. I bet the asshole was drunk again, wasn’t he? He’s been really stupid about a lot of shit this week.”
“Whoa, dude. He went out with Mike and I, but he wasn’t totally shitfaced or anything. He said he was really depressed and needed to spend some time with friends. When we were talking, we asked what had him so down. I didn’t really understand it, but he mentioned something about you and Sandy and the happy life you two are going to have. Him getting hit by the truck is actually kind of my fault. He was crossing the street when I yelled for him. He got hit because he turned to answer me,” Tom said with a quiver in his voice.
Jared realized that Tom was beating himself up over the accident, and he immediately felt bad about his earlier outburst against Jensen. “Tom, I’m sorry man. You know it isn’t really your fault, right? It was just an accident, man, that’s all there is to it.”
“You realize that means Jensen too, right? You can’t blame him for the accident any more than I can blame myself, then. If you don’t blame him, I won’t blame myself.”
“Fine, you win. I’ll try not to hold it against him.” Jared slouched in his seat in defeat.
“Don’t look so disappointed, man, you know as soon as you see him you’ll forget you were ever mad in the first place.”
“Maybe.” Jared wasn’t going to give Tom the satisfaction of agreeing with him. They sat in silence for the rest of the trip to the hospital.
Once they arrived, Jared followed Tom in, and was greeted by a quietly crying Mike. Jared found himself wrapped in a hug from the older man, and immediately went still. “Mike, what’s wrong?” Tom asked.
Mike pulled himself off of Jared and turned to Tom. “They took him back into surgery about twenty minutes ago. The doctor that spoke to me said he had a subdural haematoma, and they needed to relieve the pressure before permanent brain damage happened,” Mike told them with a fresh wave of tears. “Right before they took him out of his room, he had a seizure.”
Tom looked at Jared, who had gone white at hearing the news. “Jared, why don’t you go to the nurse and see how he’s doing? Try to get some information. I’ll get Mike calmed down here,” he said as he turned to Mike and started speaking quietly to him.
Jared strode off to see a nurse. He stopped at the nurse’s station, and waited for the nurse on duty to notice him. When she finally did, he politely asked for information, and waited for the nurse to give it to him. When she informed him that Jensen was not yet out of surgery, but that so far there had been no unusual complications, he thanked her and went to find a cup of coffee.
A few hours later, Jared was still sitting in the waiting room with Mike and Tom. Mike had dozed off and was leaning on Toms shoulder and softly snoring. Tom himself didn’t look much more awake, but was obviously trying not to drift off for Jared’s sake, an effort Jared both noticed and appreciated.
Jared was startled out of his musings by a doctor in scrubs coming into the waiting area. “Are you waiting for Jensen Ackles?”
Jared and Tom chorused, “Yes,” their combined voices waking Mike, who he blinked at the doctor sleepily.
“Well, we completed the surgery. He’s still unconscious, and probably will be for a while yet, but for now I can let people in to see him, as long as it’s one at a time. Who would like to go first?”
Mike and Tom both exchanged glances and gave Jared a ‘shoo’ gesture. Jared shot them a grateful look and stood up. “I’ll go in first, please.”
“Fine. Follow me please,” the doctor told him as he led him down the hall, and into a room where Jensen was hooked up to a variety of medical equipment. “You can have five minutes,” the doctor told him as he turned and walked out of the room.
“Thanks, doctor.” Jared looked at his friend lying in the bed. Jensen was naturally smaller than Jared, but in the hospital bed he looked much smaller and more vulnerable. He was also bruised over most of what Jared could see.
Jared cautiously approached the bed, and gently took Jensen’s hand. “Hey, man,” Jared felt himself tear up as his fingers started gently stroking the back of Jensen’s knuckles. “You gave me a hell of a scare there. They’re really not telling me too much right now, I’m assuming since I’m not family, but the doc seems like a good guy, and he seems to think you’ll be waking up.” Jared let out a small sob. “Jensen, you had better wake the hell up. I don’t want you to die thinking that I didn’t love you.” Jared felt the tears flowing freely down his face, but at this point was past caring.
There was the sound of a throat clearing in the hall, and Jared turned to find a nurse looking at him. “Your time is about up, sir.”
“Thanks, just one more minute, please?” Jared asked, using his tears shamelessly to his advantage.
The nurse gave him a smile. “Sure, but just one more. Come out when you’re done,” she said as she left the room again.
Jared turned back to the bed and leaned over Jensen’s prone form. “I’ve got to go now, but I’ll come back in the morning, okay?” he whispered into Jensen’s ear. “I love you.” Jared pressed his lips to Jensen’s cheek and then turned to leave the room.
Tom and Mike each took a brief turn in Jensen’s room, and then all three took taxis to their separate houses.
Jared thought he would have a hard time sleeping, but the emotional turmoil of the last few hours had really taken its toll on him, and he fell into a deep sleep nearly the instant his head touched the pillow.
Jared walked into the hospital the next morning completely anxiety-ridden. He had looked up a few things about head injuries on the internet, and he didn’t like the sound of the injury Jensen had sustained.
Walking into Jensen’s room, Jared was again struck by how diminished the other man looked lying in the bed. Jared felt torn even being in the same room, but knew that he had to be there for Jensen.
Jared sat in the chair by the bed, staring blankly at the other man. He was interrupted in his musings when a nurse came in to check Jensen’s vitals. “He’s doing fine, dear,” the rather matronly woman said to him. “The doctor will be in later, and if you want to talk to him, I’m sure he’ll be able to give you more information.”
“Thanks you, ma’am,” Jared said, as the nurse left the room.
After the scare he’d had, he didn’t want to leave Jensen’s side for any reason. He spent the next couple of hours sitting in the chair, keeping vigil over the other man.
Eventually, the doctor came in to check on Jensen. Jared was still sitting in the chair, even though by this point it had become a somewhat uncomfortable, not being designed either for excessive use or for someone of Jared’s stature. The doctor checked on Jensen, then turned to Jared. “Good morning, Mr. Padalecki. How are you doing this morning?”
“I’m not bad. How’s he doing?” Jared said, gesturing toward Jensen.
“He’s still not conscious, obviously, but I’m getting better responses. We’ll have to wait for him to wake up to see how he’s doing, and what damage was done.”
“What do you mean by damage?” Jared asked, the stirring of panic obvious in his voice.
“I don’t know yet. Sometimes in these cases, there is some loss of memory, or of skills. We won’t know anything until he wakes up, though, so please don’t worry about it now.”
“Thanks, doctor,” Jared said, having already dismissed the doctor from his mind as he turned back to Jensen.
The doctor quietly slipped out of the room, leaving the two men alone again.
Jared scooted the chair closer to the bed, and once again resumed his watch over the other man. He brushed at Jensen’s hair absently and looked across the bed at his still face. “Jensen, c’mon man. You’ve got to wake up. And still be, you know, you. I don’t know if I can handle it if anything…well, if you’re not really yourself.” Jared was aware that he was babbling, but was unable to stop the flow of words that had been building since he heard about the accident. “Jen, man, c’mon, please, wake up soon. I love you,” Jared whispered into the other man’s ear.
Jared buried his face in the bed by Jensen’s shoulder, crying softly. He felt motion on the bed, then Jensen was struggling to sit up.
Jensen looked around the room, confusion obvious on his face. “Where am I?”
Jared wiped his eyes and said, “Jensen, you’ve had an accident, you’re in the hospital.”
Jensen touched his head, wincing at the bandage wrapped around his head. “I don’t really remember much. I was at a bar with Mike and Tom, and now I’m waking up here.” Jensen looked up at Jared, and with an obvious effort pulled his thoughts together. “Jay, what are you doing here?”
“Dude, you had a serious car accident! Did you really think I wouldn’t come see you if you were hurt?” Jared asked, his face betraying his complete surprise that the other man would even think that.
“Jay, you broke up with me. And then you wouldn’t even speak to me, so I thought…”
“You thought what?” Jared responded in a softer tone. “That I stopped loving you?”
Jensen looked down, his inner turmoil showing through. “Yeah, I really thought you didn’t care about me any more.”
“Of course I do, I just couldn’t let myself be in a one-sided relationship anymore.”
Jensen looked up with an expression of surprise. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Jared sniffed and pulled his hand away. “I saw you going home with some woman when we were at the bar, Jen,” Jared said with downcast eyes.
Jensen stiffened in the bed. “Jared, did you actually think that I went home with her?”
“Yeah. I figured that since we hadn’t really talked about being in a relationship, this was just a casual thing for you.”
“Jared, man, we were together. She was a girl I knew before we were dating. I took her out of the bar to get her in a taxi and headed for home, but when I came back for you, you had already left.”
“I didn’t know. I’m…I’m sorry, man,” Jared said, starting to cry again.
“I can’t believe you think that little of me,” Jensen said, turning his face away from Jared.
“I don’t. I didn’t think that you actually wanted…me. I thought you were just in it for some fun. I was willing to deal with that to be with you at first, but then I realized I wanted more. I wanted a real relationship.”
“Jared, that’s what I wanted, too.”
“Do you think that maybe you could give me a second chance, Jen?”
Jensen looked at him. “I think so, as long as you don’t jump to any more stupid conclusions. You’re gonna have to talk to me, Jay. I love you, but this is going to take effort for it to work out.”
“I know, man, I know. Now I really need to get the doctor, man,” Jared said.
“One thing first?”
“Sure. What?”
Jensen reached up and tugged Jared down to him. Jared gave in to the request, and kissed Jensen. When they were through, Jensen let go of Jared’s shirt and said, “Now you can go get the doctor.”
Jared left the room still grinning, with the taste of new beginnings still on his lips.
Additional Author’s Notes: While writing this, I had some problems with a happy ending. Jensen kept trying to die off on me, and while I certainly don’t like writing death!fic, drusemia informed me that if I killed off Jensen, she would tickle me. I believed her. We have a happy ending, people. I want to thank everyone who encouraged me to finish this thing, including siubhlach and drusemia.
Also, this fic didn’t want to end. I don’t know if there’s enough left for another one or not, but this was the point that I decided to leave as the actual ending. So we’ll see what happens in the future. For now, I’m going back to my au and see where that ends up.