Standing On The Outside Looking In, J2, PG-13
Title: Standing On The Outside Looking In (1/1)
Author: ms_soma
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 6,162
Disclaimer: I don’t own much, and that includes Jared & Jensen. This story is complete fiction. Title ashamedly taken from a Cold Chisel song - and not even a cool one *facepalm*.
Beta: The fabulous sinandmisery , who saved me from the pit of bad grammar - you’re a gem! Any mistakes are mine from all of the tinkering.
Summary: The journey of Jared and Jensen, through the eyes of an outsider during their last two years of filming.
A/N: Written for waterofthemoon for the spn_j2_xmas exchange, who wanted to see Outsider POV, but not their friends or the cast--I was thinking along the lines of people like their driver, Jeanie or Shannon, a random PA, the barista at the coffee place who knows their usuals…etc. I hope you like it!
STANDING ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
Annie Madison was getting too old for this. Working six days a week, up with the sparrows every morning, chatting with customers every day while serving them coffee, breakfast, lunch, cookies, cake, whatever happened to take their fancy. At sixty-seven, her joints ached from being on her feet all day, and her knees popped whenever she bent to wipe the remains of a broken glass or a child’s spilled meal.
Even though she was feeling every year of her age, Annie loved her job. Twenty-seven years ago she was teaching at the local high school, and desperate for a change of vocation. Annie had five kids of her own by then, and was done with dealing with everyone else’s, too. She and her late second husband started this small yet successful diner when she found that she could arrange her working schedule around the children’s schooling, and they were old enough to help out after school and on weekends. When Bob had died nine years ago, God bless his sweet soul, the darlings all helped out until she was able to recruit new people and cope with the management herself. Her children were all grown up and had their own lives and careers; even her baby was having babies of his own.
She wiped a stray strand of gray hair behind her ear as she took money from another satisfied regular, Harold, telling him that she hoped to see his ill wife join him again next week. That was her favorite part of job, getting to know the regulars. She had built up quite a loyal following in her twenty-seven years of operation. She’d seen singles become couples, she’d seen couples become families. She’d watched as people blew into town on business, and others return to West Vancouver after working abroad with big smiles and bigger appetites and tell her that no-one does waffles like Annie.
Annie was busy cleaning the counter when the familiar jingle of bells told her that she had a new customer to serve. She glanced up to see the tall man with hair that begged for a cut push his friend towards their regular booth. Looking at her watch, she could see that he was right on time.
This was Annie’s favorite treat on a Saturday morning. For the past two years, almost every Saturday morning at nine-thirty, that tall drink of water she knew as Jared would come in for a large breakfast. The boy certainly had an appetite, and more often than not Annie would slip an extra bit of bacon onto his plate. She had watched him fill out over the few years he had been living in the neighborhood; lose his boyish looks and become a very handsome young man. Annie might be in her late sixties and on her third husband, but she wasn’t blind. Or dead. She knew a good-looking boy when she saw one.
She took the pen from behind her bun and grabbed the notepad from her apron before wandering over to the table. Usually the boys each took a side of the four-person booth and spread out with newspapers. Today, however, found them both on the same side, Jared with his long leg almost hanging out of the booth looking over the sports section, with Jensen slumped and leaning up against him, looking half-asleep with the peak of his beanie pulled over his eyes.
“Grandma Annie!” Jared’s eyes brightened as she approached them, and she smiled in return. The boy had been calling her Grandma Annie since the days where he used to bring his cute little sweetheart in once a month, when she was visiting from the States. She had grimaced the first time he’d called her that, she couldn’t be much older than his own mother, after all. But he’s called her that ever since, and now she just finds it endearing. Like she’s his piece of home away from home.
“What can I get you boys this morning? The usual?” She asked.
“Coffee. Black. Followed by sweet, sweet death,” Jensen mumbled from beneath his hat. Or was that Jared’s hat? She was sure she’d seen Jared in it only last week.
“Don’t mind him, somebody woke up grumpy this morning,” Jared stage-whispered, and received an elbow in the ribs in response.
Annie smirked. She had three sons of her own and knew exactly what this looked like. “Big night out boys?”
“It was our make-up lady’s birthday yesterday, so we all went out to celebrate last night. Some of us harder than others,” Jared informed her.
“Uh-huh.” Annie nodded. She never did have much sympathy for self-inflicted illnesses, but she had a soft spot for Jensen, who had joined Jared for breakfast most Saturdays for the past year. “What are you after today?”
“Coffee would be amazing, and some bacon and eggs,” Jared ordered, a cheeky grin spreading across his handsome face. “And with the bacon, can you make sure it’s really thick pieces of bacon? Like, really thick juicy bits with lots of fat on the side. And fry them up really good in lots and lots of oil. There’s nothing like really crispy bacon that’s dripping in oil, you know?” Jared described in detail, and Annie registered Jensen’s face turning impossibly paler.
“Shut the fuck up or I will puke in your lap, I swear-“ Jensen started, and then turned to face her as if he'd forgotten she was there, apologizing sheepishly. “Sorry Grandma Annie, didn’t mean to swear.”
“I have boys, sweetheart. Nothing I haven’t heard before.” She grinned. “How about I bring you some plain toast to go with that coffee; soak up some of that whiskey?”
“I would have to marry you,” Jensen said tiredly yet gratefully.
“I’ll warn Richard to make way for a younger model.” She smirked, heading into the kitchen to make up their order herself.
***
Annie remembered the first time Jared had stepped into her diner. He was tall and good looking and seemed a little familiar, but she couldn’t place him. He made his way to a booth that was slightly hidden from view, the same one he still sat in now. He was very pleasant, with his please and ma’am and decent sized tip at the end of the meal.
After the third week in a row he had come in and ordered the same thing, Annie thought it was time to learn who he was. “What’s your name, son?”
“It’s Jared,” he said as he held out his hand for her to shake.
“I’m Annie, Jared. Are you new to the neighborhood?”
“I just bought a house about two months ago. One of my neighbors told me that I haven’t experienced the area unless I’ve had some of Annie’s waffles,” Jared told her, and she couldn’t help but beam in pride.
During that first year, he came most Saturday mornings. Sometimes with Jensen, sometimes with a dark brunette pretty girl… what was her name? Ah, Sandy, that’s right. But mostly he was on his own, sitting at the booth eating a hearty breakfast and reading the paper. Sometimes, when he was alone, they’d have a brief conversation. Jared would ask about her grandkids and husband; Annie would talk to him about his relationship and his travel plans.
It wasn’t until a few months after he started being a regular customer that Annie found out who Jared was. Her two eldest grandchildren were visiting from Edmonton, and with only one television in the house, they made her watch his show, Supernatural. Annie wasn’t one for those types of shows. She preferred Boston Legal, Law & Order, and Scrubs, if she felt like a laugh. Creepy wasn’t Annie’s thing, but it was good to see what it was that Jared and his friend did to earn a living.
Of course, her granddaughters didn’t believe her when she told them that the taller brother, Sam, came to eat at her little diner most Saturdays, and thought they were proved right when they spent the whole of Saturday with her and did not sight either of them. Both of the boys turned up the next morning, telling her that they had to shoot on Saturday, but by then the girls were back on the bus for their long trip back to Alberta.
***
The boys were sitting diagonally opposite each other in their booth as Annie approached them. To everyone else they probably seemed to be sitting reading the paper in a comfortable silence; two best friends just enjoying being in each others company. However Annie could see Jared’s right leg linked with Jensen’s, and she bit back a chuckle. These boys may think that they’re fooling the world, but they certainly weren’t fooling Annie.
“Morning boys, what do you feel like today?”
“Morning Grandma Annie,” they said in unison, looking up from their paper and to each other.
“I’ll just get the usual bacon, eggs, coffee. Maybe some hash browns and tomatoes, too?” Jared thought aloud. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
“I’m feeling kind of sweet today,” Jensen said, turning on the charm. “I think I might get some of your famous waffles, with maple syrup and whipped cream. Maybe some strawberries on the side?”
“Ooh, that sounds good. Maybe I should get that too?” Jared suggested.
“No way, man. You’ve done nothing but talk about bacon and eggs since you woke up this morning.”
“Fine, can I have a bite of yours then?”
“A bite to you is half of my meal,” Jensen pointed out, and Jared laid the puppy eyes on him that Annie had seen at work several times, including on her when she told him that they had run out of apple pie one afternoon. She ended up making another for him to collect and take home at the end of the day.
“How about I make you another half a waffle, some extra strawberries?” Annie suggested, and both boys broke into their trademark grins; the kind that made her granddaughters swoon.
“You’re the best Grandma in the world.” Jared told her.
She was still smiling when she reached the kitchen. Sometimes they made her feel sixty-seven going on sixteen.
***
Annie checked her watch and was surprised to see that it was ten-fifteen. The morning had flown, and she usually gauged the time on a Saturday morning by the arrival of her boys. They had both been coming in long enough now for Annie to consider them her boys. She wondered if they had to film that morning, or maybe had to go back to LA or Texas. Ah, the glamorous lives of the young and famous.
The door chimed and Annie looked up to see a very harried looking Jared. He looked exhausted, with deep dark circles under his eyes and a frustrated expression on his face. Instead of heading to the booth as per usual, he came straight to the counter.
“Jared, dear, is everything okay?” Annie enquired, concern softening her features.
“Yeah, it’s just been a long week,” Jared informed her, only giving a half smile instead of his usual exuberant grin.
“You need to talk about it?” She asked. The last time she asked him that she ended up hearing about the decline of his relationship with Sandy. Sometimes boys just needed to vent to someone unconnected to their situation.
“It’s okay. It’s just, we’ve had a really big week of filming. Late nights, emotional scenes, physical scenes. It’s really taken it out of me,” Jared sighed. “And then Jensen got a cold on Wednesday, kept me awake all of last night with his coughing and blowing his nose.” Jared went a little red around the ears, like he just realized that the statement implied that they slept in the same bed. Annie acted as if she hadn’t noticed.
“Not a good time to get sick, by the sounds of it.”
“It’s really not. And I know he feels like crap and all, but I had a tough week, too. On set he was all I’m okay if anyone asked how he was feeling, then the second we get home, he’s all pathetic and impatient and jumping down my throat at the littlest thing,” Jared paused. “Seriously, anyone would think the guy was dying with the way he’s carrying on. It’s like no one in the world has ever felt this bad.”
Annie laughed to herself as Jared vented. She'd had three husbands and raised three boys. She knew exactly what that sounded like.
“It sounds as if the poor boy has a serious case of man-flu,” Annie told him forlornly.
“Man-flu?” Jared’s eyebrows drew together.
“Uh-huh.” Annie nodded. “When men get sick it’s like there’s nobody alive that has ever felt worse than them. It’s very common, and I’ve dealt with it many a time in all of my years.”
“So what am I supposed to do?” Jared asked. “At this point, I’m willing to try anything.”
“If I know Jensen, and I’m starting to suspect that I do, I’d say before anything, he’ll need a coffee,”
“That’s why I’m here, he’s refusing to have the coffee from home. He wants, no he needs, a cup of yours.” Jared rolled his eyes.
“So I’ll make you both a coffee, I’ll keep his black. Don’t give him any milk products, it won’t help his runny nose,” Annie advised, and Jared nodded as if he was keeping a mental tally. “So give him his coffee, and when he’s done with it, make him take a hot shower. The steam will help clear his head a little. Then get him dressed in some clean sweats, and prod him towards the couch with a pillow and blanket, keeping his tissues, water, and cold and flu tablets nearby.”
“Okay,” Jared responded.
“Oh honey, I’m not done yet,” Annie smiled. “Make him some toast and some lemon and ginger tea with a spoon of honey. Make sure he gets the toast down before he has the cold and flu tablets. Then just sit on the couch with him, put on a DVD, maybe massage his feet a little. Make sure he keeps his fluids up.”
“What should I feed him? He’s not too interested in food at the moment,”
“I’ve got some chicken and vegetable soup on the stove at the moment. It’s not quite ready, but it will do. Feed yourselves that for lunch, and get something with a bit of spice in it for dinner. And go to the pharmacy on your way home. Buy some of that nighttime cough medicine. It will knock him out and you’ll both get a decent night’s sleep. Oh, and get yourself some vitamins with garlic and Echinacea, try and build up your own defense system so you don’t get it too.”
“And you think that will work?” Jared asked, looking at her through his bangs.
Annie nodded. “I think it’s worth a shot. And if he gets all whiney again, put his mother on the phone. There’s nothing like a bit of Mom-sympathy to make a boy feel better.”
Jared gave her a kiss on the cheek as he left the diner, coffee tray in one hand and soup in the other.
Annie wasn’t too surprised the following week when it was just Jensen walking through the door alone, asking if she had any of that chicken soup to try and cure Jared.
***
Annie’s eldest daughter and her family were visiting from Edmonton again. It had been over a year since she had seen them all last, and it was lovely to have a busy household again, even if Annie’s grandchildren thought she was the oldest woman alive. Her two oldest granddaughters were in their late-teens and had a different perspective on age than their younger cousins, but they still treated her as if she was born in the eighteen-hundreds. They came to the diner with her a few days that week, helping her out, and teasing her about how they might actually get to see Jared Padalecki in the flesh this time. They still didn’t believe that he frequented her diner, so she had not bothered telling them that Jensen Ackles also joined him more often than not, now.
So it was very satisfying to see their jaws drop when the two men walked in at nine-thirty that Saturday morning and waved at her as they took their seats in their booth. Her granddaughters stood unmoving, eyes wide in amazement, like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. She felt their eyes on her as she went and took the boys order and shared a joke with them before returning to the kitchen.
“Oh my God, Grams!” Her younger granddaughter shrieked when they joined her in the kitchen. “That’s Sam and Dean Winchester you have sitting right out there. In your diner!”
“You mean Jared and Jensen?” Annie asked, mock-confused. “I thought they looked familiar.”
“Oh my God, she calls them by their first names,” the older one said in wonder.
“So do you believe your old grandmother now?” Annie asked, looking smugly at her two granddaughters.
As they were walking towards the exit, the boys called out, “Thanks, Grandma Annie!”, and she waved them over to the counter.
“Boys, these are my granddaughters, Caitlin and Rebecca. Girls, this is Jared and Jensen,” she introduced. There were a lot of flushed faces and giggling going on, but Annie guessed that the boys were used to this by now.
“Nice to meet you Caitlin and Rebecca,” Jared said as they both shook their hands. “Do you ladies watch the show?”
“Yeah, season five’s been awesome so far,” Caitlin had recovered enough to speak. “Is it really the last one?”
“I’m afraid so,” Jensen told her. “We’re currently filming episode fourteen, and it’s only getting better, I promise you.”
Jared and Jensen left soon after, and the girls walked around on cloud nine for the rest of the day.
“I can’t believe you know Jared and Jensen,” Caitlin sighed.
“I can’t believe they call you Grandma Annie,” Rebecca responded.
Oh yeah, Annie would be earning some serious cool points for this.
***
Being a high school teacher, Annie learned how to read people at an early age. She learned to read her students so she could pick up on signs of trouble, so she knew who not to sit next to whom in her classroom, and how to capture the attention of the one student in that one class that was causing a disturbance. She had to read parents so that she knew how to phrase topics, questions, and feedback about her students on parent-teacher night. Some parents would get defensive about their kids while some would sigh in relief to hear that their child was no more rebellious than the next. Either way, reading people became a well honed skill.
It wasn’t a skill that she lost between leaving teaching and opening the diner. She knew when to engage customers in conversation, and when to leave them alone. She watched her old students come in after school for a milkshake or some pie, telling her that they missed her, and that their new home economics teacher was nowhere near as good as her. She watched Susie and Billy, two shy kids from her social studies class, fall in love under her nose, and these days they brought their own children in for milkshakes and pie. She picked up on Dan’s foul mood one day, and found out that he had been diagnosed with cancer and tried to convince him over cake and hot chocolate to not push his loved ones away. She watched another regular couple, Janine and Jason, as their three-year marriage went from joy to despair. She was not surprised to hear about their divorce.
Annie took joy in seeing these snippets of the lives of people she was coming to know as friends. And they were friends, judging by the number of flowers she received when Bob passed away, and again when she married Richard.
Jared Padalecki had been coming to her diner for over two years. In that time, she had seen him mature, in both looks and attitude. She had seen him entertain his friends. She had seen him head over heels in love with Sandy. She had also seen that relationship lose its spark. It wasn’t that much of a shock the day that she had sat opposite a dejected and alone looking Jared, and he had confessed that his relationship, his engagement, was over. She had sat and listened while he talked it out, replaying scenes from their last conversation, and telling Annie that they wanted different things and neither were willing to compromise.
That was the issue with Annie’s first marriage. True, a shotgun was the only reason why they married in the first place (and by shotgun, she meant her first born, Mark), but in the end, five years and two children later was not enough for them to compromise with each other. He went out for a drink one night, and only came back to collect his things. The relief they both felt afterwards was palpable, and that was in the days where divorce was almost unheard of.
Just over a year after the day when Annie was consoling Jared about the demise of his relationship with Sandy, there he was again. Sitting alone, dejected, shoulders slumped and on his third cup of coffee.
Annie wondered if there was trouble in paradise. If there was, this would be one of the first times she hadn’t seen something coming.
Jared used to bring Jensen in for breakfast a few times a month; before they started living together, and Jensen joined him every week instead. She always admired their easy friendship; the way they could communicate without words, the gentle ribbing and teasing, the way they could make each other laugh. After Jensen moved into his house, she watched as their already deep friendship grew deeper, saw them flirt with each other. They had smiled at each other differently than they had four months earlier.
And it must have been about two months later that Annie noticed that something had changed between them. It was as if someone had flicked a switch, and even though she could see them trying to act as they normally would, lines were blurred. It warmed her heart to see it, because there was young Jared smiling bigger and brighter like she hadn’t seen in months, and Jensen was more animated than she’d ever thought possible. But she kept their secret, not even letting on to them that she knew what was going on. And she’d only seen them grow stronger, start acting less like friends and more like the other couples that frequented her diner. Like they didn’t know how to act like just friends anymore.
To be greeted today with a sorrowful looking Jared, picking at his waffle and drinking his third coffee, her heart ached like he really was one of her own grandchildren.
“Mind if I take a seat?” Annie asked, not waiting for a reply and sitting down opposite Jared in the booth.
“I’m not great company today, Grandma Annie. Sorry,” Jared replied, giving her a sad smile before looking down at the newspaper again.
“You want to tell an old lady what’s got you looking so miserable?” Annie asked soothingly.
“Kinda,” Jared said. “But it’s kind of, you know, secret. No one really knows about it.”
“Oh honey,” Annie dismissed. “Through twenty years of teaching and twenty-seven years at this diner, I’ve seen and done a lot of things. Kept a lot of secrets. Not a lot gets past these old eyes. Just ask my middle child, Max,” she grinned at the memory of him not thinking she knew what a marijuana plant looked like.
“So-“
“So you look like you’re suffering from a bit of heartache. And even Blind Freddy can see who’s not here with you today,” she cajoled.
“Is it that obvious?” Jared groaned.
“Maybe not to people that don’t see you two together every week.”
Jared nodded, opening and closing his mouth a few times as if he was about to speak but didn’t know what to say.
“Grandma Annie, you ever have moments where you feel like history’s repeating?” Jared asked, and she could tell by the way he screwed his eyes shut after saying it that he was holding back tears.
This was what Annie had been afraid of, and she hoped whatever had happened between her boys wasn’t irreparable.
“Supernatural’s finishing in three weeks, right?” He continued. “It’s less than a month away until the end. And I’m sad about it, because I’ve been living in Sam Winchester’s skin for five years, but it’s also time to move on. I get that, I need that,”
“So what are you boys going to do when it’s all over?” Annie asked.
“That’s just it. I mean, we both have summer projects lined up, so work-wise, we’re okay for now,”
“I wasn’t talking about work, sweetheart,”
Jared paused for a bit and took a deep breath.
“We’ve been fighting,” he confessed. “Like, a lot. Like, we can’t go through a single day without some sort of argument. And about stupid shit too, like me leaving my towels on the floor, or Jen not cleaning the coffee maker out. It’s so frustrating.”
“Sounds to me like you’ve got deeper issues,”
“We do, I know we do. And every time I try to talk to him about it, about what we’re doing after Supernatural, he just clams up on me. I can’t help but think that maybe...” Jared took another deep breath. “Maybe he doesn’t feel the same about me as I do about him.”
Annie could see Jared fighting back the tears, and it made her own heart ache a little more.
“Oh honey, that boy looks at you like you hung the moon,” Annie tried to reassure him.
“That’s what you used to say about Sandy,” Jared protested.
“True, and she did. But he looks at you like you hung all the stars too,” Annie replied.
“Then why won’t he talk to me? Why does he have to fly to LA for the weekend just to get away from me?”
“Maybe he just needs the space to sort his head out? You boys are together twenty-four/seven,” she reminded him.
“Maybe he’s just getting ready to leave me,” Jared said sorrowfully. “I’ve made comments about maybe keeping the house here, hope for another series that films in Vancouver. Because I love my house, and sure, my friends are in LA but I don’t love living in LA. I like our world here. But Jen just dismisses anything I say. And it hurts, you know?”
“I know,”
“I mean, I thought maybe, maybe we’d be forever. Because it feels different to what I had with Sandy. It feels like we just fit so well into each other’s lives. But right now he’s treating me like I’m not even his boyfriend, more like his-“ he paused, trying to think of the right wording.
“Fuck buddy?” Annie suggested, and was pleased to see a surprised look cross Jared’s handsome face.
“You’re a grandmother, you’re not supposed to know terms like that,” Jared told her.
“Oh please, I lived through the sixties. I know what a fuck buddy is.”
“I don’t know what to do, Grandma Annie. I’m scared to do anything in case I lose him, but if I don’t do anything I’ll lose him too.”
Annie paused for a moment, considering. “Jared, remember when you told me that you thought you and Sandy were going to break up?”
Jared nodded. “Yeah, you have a way of making me spill my guts.”
Annie smiled. “Remember what you told me then? That you both wanted different things, and neither of you were willing to compromise. You thought that was a good indicator that maybe the two of you weren’t as invested in your relationship as you thought.”
“I remember.”
“How do you feel this time around? If Jensen comes back and tells you that he wants to take a year off to travel, or that he wants to move back to LA, or even Texas, what do you think you would do?”
“I’d try and work out a way that I could be with him,” Jared admitted.
“See, to me, that sounds like you’re willing to compromise,” Annie told him.
“I just don’t know how to even talk to him about it.”
“When does he get back from LA?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“So, tomorrow night, go and pick him up from the airport. Go out for coffee, or make some at home. Sit down; talk to him. And you don’t even have to talk about this. Just talk about normal things; ask about his weekend. Just have a normal conversation that won’t start an argument.”
“You think that would work?” Jared asked.
“It’s a start.” Annie sighed. “And you never know, maybe you’ll start talking about the real issues between the two of you. Maybe you’ll sort them out and find out where you stand with each other?”
“I hope so.”
“Then you can have hot, sweaty make-up sex.” Annie grinned at Jared’s blush.
“Grandma Annie!”
“What? The only reason me and my second husband ever argued was for the make-up sex. I’m too old to put up with the hassle now.” Annie laughed at Jared’s obvious embarrassment. “Look, Jared. It seems to me like you have two choices here. Don’t say anything and hope like hell that it all falls into place, or talk to Jensen about how you feel about him and find out he feels the same.”
“But what if he doesn’t?”
“Then what have you lost? If that’s true, which I don’t think it is, your heart’s going to be broken either way. At least you won’t go through life wondering.”
“Thanks, Grandma Annie,” Jared said softly.
“You’re welcome,” she said, sliding out of the booth. “I wish you could see what I see. I wish you could see how that boy looks at you.”
Annie wandered back to the counter, bagged a large piece of dark chocolate cake and took it over to Jared.
“This is Jensen’s favorite,” she told him.
“I know,” Jared said. “I got you to make him one for his birthday cake this year.”
“Split it with him tomorrow. Don’t eat it before then, you hear?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Then next weekend, I want to see that boy sitting right next to you, and I want to see you both smiling. Okay?”
“I’ll see what I can do,”
***
Annie’s heart was heavy. Two Saturdays had passed since her heart-to-heart with Jared, and she hadn’t seen either of the boys since. Jared hadn’t even come in for breakfast, and she was worried about what that meant. Could she have been that wrong with her observations? And worse, had she given Jared false hope only to have his heart ripped out after all?
The morning was dragging along slowly, although she avoided glancing at the clock because she didn’t want to see it tick over to nine-thirty, and her boys still not be sitting in their booth.
It was with a sense of almost hysterical relief when she heard the chime of the door and looked up to see two grinning actors wave at her before heading to their table. She caught Jared’s eye and beamed at him, and was rewarded with one of his blinding smiles in return.
“So boys, what will it be today? The usual?” Annie asked.
“Actually, Grandma Annie. This is going to be the last visit for a while, so I think I need to have a serving of your famous waffles,” Jared told her.
“Make that two,” Jensen agreed.
“Two plates of waffles with coffee, got it,” Annie said, writing down their order on her pad. “Now tell me, how come I haven’t seen the two of you in here for so many weeks?”
“Work,” Jensen told her. “We just finished filming the final episodes of the series, and they were pretty spectacular, too. Worked us around the clock. Yesterday was the first day off we’d had in sixteen days.
“Thank Christ, because somebody had a killer hangover from Thursday’s wrap party and didn’t know how to act civilized,” Jared told her.
“Don’t listen to a word the man says,” Jensen defended himself. “I’m made of sunshine and puppies and don’t you forget it.”
“And why is this the last meal you’ll have with me for a while?”
“We’re taking a vacation before our summer projects start,” Jared informed her. “Then Jensen’s new series starts filming in LA in July,”
“So you’ll be moving back there?” She asked, a knowing smile on her face.
“Yeah, we will.”
Annie stood back and watched them eat and laugh with each other and couldn’t help but think that something else had changed with them, something had shifted. They looked more content, freer.
When Jensen got up to use the washroom, Annie took her chance to speak with Jared alone.
“So I take it that you sorted things out?”
“We have. He got back from LA wanting to talk about what was going on with us, so it was a little easier than I thought. Although the cake did help,” Jared grinned.
“And?” Annie was impatient, she wanted details.
“And you were right. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be with me anymore.”
“I told you,” she said gleefully.
“It’s just that I had been talking about maybe staying in Vancouver, and he had gotten this offer for a part in a HBO series in LA that he never told me about. He thought I was set on staying and finding work here, so he just started pulling away. Said it would make it easier for him to let me go.”
“But he couldn’t?”
“Nah, one of his friends from LA kicked his ass about it. So he came back, and we talked, and we-“ Jared blushed.
“Had big, sweaty make-up sex?” Annie asked, smiling.
“Well, yeah, but don’t tell him I told you that. He still thinks you’re an innocent grandmother.”
They were still laughing when Jensen rejoined them. “You ready to go?”
“Yeah,” Jared said, getting up and leaving a few bills on the table. He turned to Annie and enveloped her in a hug with those giant limbs of his.
“Thanks for the last few years, Grandma Annie,” Jared said in her ear. “You’re the best surrogate grandma a boy could hope for.”
“Yeah, thanks Grandma Annie,” Jensen chimed in, also giving her a hug. “We’re going to miss this place.”
“But we’re not gone forever, just for now. We’re going to rent the house out for a while, just in case we ever end up coming back.”
“Well if you do, make an old woman’s day and come and visit, okay?”
“We will,” Jared promised, then shot a look at his partner who just nodded in reply. “Uh, Grandma Annie. There’s one more thing that Jen and I are going to do before we leave Vancouver on Monday. We can’t really tell you what it is, but if you find yourself out at Ferguson Point in Stanley Park tomorrow at around four o’clock-“ he trailed off, scratching at his left ring finger.
“Oh, boys!” Annie beamed, grabbing them both into a hug again. “I don’t know that I’ll make it, but be sure to send me a photo.”
“As soon as the press gets hold of the license, I’m sure People Magazine will get hold of some,” Jensen said wryly.
That was why Annie loved her diner. She’d seen singles become couples, and couples become families. She could put up with her aching joints and stiff lower back for moments like these. For getting to be a part of her customer’s lives.
A photo did arrive in the mail a few weeks later, so different to any of the grainy pictures that showed up in Us Weekly. Jensen looked handsome in his charcoal suit and untucked open-necked black shirt, Jared glowing in his pinstriped suit and light pink shirt, also untucked. Why kids these days had to look scruffy, she’d never know, but they looked so happy, so right together. She pinned it up on her board beside the picture of Billy and Susie’s wedding day, Harold and Margaret’s renewal of vows, Jaida’s christening, Katie’s first day at Disneyland, and the myriad of other photos her customers, her family, had sent in over the years.
As she locked the doors that evening, Annie breathed a sigh of contentment. She was looking forward to the day that that particular couple became a family, and hoped when they did, they’d return to her little diner for milkshakes, pie, and Grandma Annie’s famous waffles.