Gone Are The Days (Epilogue)
epilogue
The Ackles family broke the news calmly, as with everything in their household, over dinner.
Since Jared's accident, they'd taken to eating it in the lounge, Jared lain out on the sofa with his broken leg resting in Jensen's lap. The older boy joked that the kid's cast made the perfect place to balance his tray, but the truth was that he liked having him close by - liked being able to glance over and know without doubt that the kid was safe.
He didn't know whether that was because of the new turn that their friendship had taken, stolen kisses and secret smiles, or whether it was just relief at having the kid back with them. He figured it didn't really matter either way.
The bruises had all but faded now, save for the one on his left temple which seemed to be reluctant to leave, and had become more and more like his old self. He was still a little withdrawn sometimes, still shut down at the mention of his old foster parents, but those were things that could be worked on over time - things that could be fixed, with a little patience.
He was a far cry from the broken boy that had arrived at the house with a bag in his hands and secrets hidden in the slump of his shoulders, the tightness of his eyes.
"So," Donna said evenly, interrupting Megan and Mackenzie before they could launch into another debate about which of their school's basketball players was the hottest. "Alan and I have been thinking, and we were wondering if we could ask you a serious question, Jared."
Jared froze with his fork part-way to his mouth, every muscle in his body going rigid in a split-second, and he winced as he lowered his fork back to his plate, letting out a small groan. Jensen reached out, gently squeezing his leg above the cast as reassuringly as he could, sending a confused look at his foster parents.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that Jared was feeling more than a little trapped. Alan had brought a wheelchair back from the hospital with them, in order to ferry the kid from room to room, but with a busted pelvis and a broken leg the kid wasn't exactly up to walking around.
"Nothing bad," Donna quickly clarified, shooting the young man a concerned look at the small noise of pain. She ducked her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, probably should have led with that. This isn't an ambush."
Jared didn't relax, glancing over at Jensen as if demanding to knew whether he knew what was going on. Jensen shook his head, honestly just as confused as his best friend was, though somewhat more inclined to believe Donna when she claimed that the kid wasn't being ambushed.
Sometimes the smallest things sent Jared's guards slamming straight back down again, and they were certainly out in full force as he warily watched his foster mother, waiting for her to continue.
"Actually," she continued slowly, looking somewhat hesitantly. "We wanted to talk to you about maybe staying here on a more permanent basis."
Jared looked surprised and more than a little confused, opening his mouth as if to talk only to shut it a few seconds later, frowning a little.
"I don't understand what you mean," he confessed honestly, one hand still gripping the edge of the plate. His eyes flickered to Alan, but the man was giving nothing away, still happily tucking into his dinner as if nothing was amiss. "I thought I already was staying here?"
Donna smiled warmly, nodding her head.
"Of course you are," she agreed. "But as your foster parents, we haven't got any legal responsibility for you after you turn eighteen. The state would most likely remove you from our care and place in some kind of half-way home, with a small allowance."
Jensen stomach rolled unpleasantly at the thought.
There'd been a time when he'd longed for the day that the state signed the papers to say that he was free to walk away, that they set him up with a small flat - perhaps with other past foster kids, or perhaps by himself - and he was finally his own responsibility.
At the time, years of being shipped from home to home and led him to the conclusion that a half-way house was the ultimate goal, the best he could aim for, and it wasn't until the Ackles had formally adopted him that he'd realised that he was wrong.
The thought of Jared in a small flat, of Jared anywhere but here - with them - was heart-wrenching.
"I know," the kid said quietly. "My social worker was talking about one in California before I came here. She says that she might be able to get me a job there with one of her friends."
Donna nodded slowly. "Is that what you want, Jared? Honestly?"
Jared shrugged hesitantly, and it was clear to Jensen that he didn't understand what was happening here - didn't understand the significance of what they were discussing. Jensen was starting to think that he might, and hope sprang brightly in his chest.
"I guess," Jared replied evenly, shifting awkwardly. "I don't really have any other choice."
Donna smiled, bright and relieved, and Jensen grinned with her because he was sure that he was right.
"What if I gave you another choice?" She asked carefully, leaning forwards in her seat. "Because I think we'd all very much like it if you'd do us the honour of letting us adopt you permanently, Jared."
Instead of the bright grin that Jensen had expected, Jared's face shuttered further and he flinched a little.
"I..." He trailed off, eyes flying to Jensen. "I don't understand. Why?"
Donna smiled patiently, as if this was the reaction that she'd expected. Honestly, Jensen figured that she might have; he remembered her telling him that when they'd asked Jeff if they could adopt him, the kid - fifteen at the time - had point blank refused, and had then destroyed his entire room in a fit of anger. Donna had stood and watched him doing it, and then calmly told him that they weren't going to change their minds, and a week later Jeff had agreed.
"Because," Donna told him evenly. "We think that you're a great kid, and though we already consider you part of our family, we'd love to make it official."
Jared didn't reply, and Donna rose to her feet and crossed the distance between them, dropping a kiss on his forehead and kneeling on the sofa in front of him. Jared looked more than a little bewildered, perhaps even a little scared, and he shot Jensen a helpless look.
Jensen forced himself not to move. Instead, he watched in silence as Donna gently tugged the younger man's hand into her own.
"You don't have to make your mind up straight away," she told him easily, still smiling. "And we'll understand if you don't want it to happen, but we really would love to adopt you, Jared."
The kid hesitated a few moments longer, but when Donna meant to move away, he tugged her closer.
"What if you change your mind?" He asked quietly, and for the first time in a long time, Jensen was reminded of the softer side to that six-year-old boy he'd met all of those years ago.
The little boy that had taken down bullies twice his size without so much as hesitation, who'd picked himself up off the ground with a determination that had left Jensen stunned, and who'd cried himself to sleep that very same night because fighting was bad, and nobody was ever going to want to keep him if he was bad.
"That's not going to happen, Jared," Donna told him evenly. "We've thought about this long and hard. We never would have asked you if we weren't sure."
There was another pause and then, slowly, Jared nodded.
"Yes," he replied quietly. "I mean, I'd really like that too."
Across the room, Megan and Mackenzie - who'd been sitting so still that Jensen had almost forgotten that they were there - whooped loudly, Meg nearly tipping her plate to the floor. Donna grinned, dragging Jared into a huge and even Alan came over - still careful to keep a respectful distance between them - and squeezed Jared's shoulder.
When Jared turned to Jensen, both of them were blinking back tears, and Jared laughed at the sight of the joy on Jensen's face. Carefully swinging the younger man's leg around and propping it up on the footstool - pausing to place his half-finished dinner on the floor - Jensen moved forwards and tugged his best friend into an enthusiastic hug.
"I can't believe this is real," Jared laughed into his shoulder as the warmth of his tears soaked through Jensen's shirt. The older boy laughed, pulling the kid in tighter.
"It is," he promised quietly, burying his face into the younger man's hair. "It really is."
Finally pulling away from his friend, conscious of the fact that his - no, their - family was watching, and not really caring, Jensen reached forward and thumbed the tears from his friend's face.
Jared laughed in embarrassment, wiping the tears on the other side of his face away with his sleeve. He caught Jensen's hand when the older teen made to pull it away, and Jensen smiled at his softly, uncaring of how ridiculously soppy they must look.
Grinning, he opened his mouth and finally said the words that he'd wanted to say since the moment that Jared had stepped over their threshold.
"Welcome to the family, Jay."
previous | masterpost