No Map for Our Travels: Outtakes
Masterpost | Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Epilogue | Outtakes | Art
Outtakes
These are all scenes that, while finished and which don't contradict the canon events of the main story, didn't fit in with the narrative as a whole and had to be cut for pacing reasons. But I'm still kind of fond of them, so here they are - four scenes, all between 400 and 800 words each.
Jensen sees Jay again after winter break
Jensen hadn't expected to actually enjoy her visit home - she was so caught up in thinking about Jay that she didn't know if anything else could compare. It was nice, though, even if she did miss Jay, and texted her as often as she thought she could get away with. She didn't share the news of her new possible relationship with her parents. They had been very supportive of Danneel when she had come out, but Jensen knew it was always different when it came to family, so she planned to tell them later, once she felt a little surer. Her sister was another story altogether - she had wormed it out of Jensen her first night there, and thought it was cool to have a secret together from their parents.
When she met Misha, Vicki and Danneel back in Portland for the drive to Misha's parents' house for the rest of her holidays, all bets were off when it came to talking about Jay. Misha teased her mercilessly about hearts and romance until Vicki intervened by swatting him over the head. Danneel was dealing with her own worry about Adrianne, and only participated in torturing Jensen half-heartedly, and the time went quickly and enjoyably for the most part. Still, Jensen was more than ready to get back home and see Jay again.
She was nervous about how quickly and easily things seemed to be happening with Jay, but she kept it to herself. She knew her friends would only tell her to stop worrying about the fact that things were going so well, and she really was trying.
She met Jay for coffee on the first week of the quarter. They had to plan their meetings now that they didn't share any classes, although Jensen also had vague ideas about more study sessions in the library when Jay had a shift.
"Oh good, you're still gay," Jay said after Jensen kissed her in greeting. It was probably too long and deep for a public place, but Jensen had missed her.
Jensen arched an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Jay shrugged. "No reason," she said, tripping over her feet as she pulled a chair out from their small table. "I'm just glad to see you, I - I missed you." Her eyes looked at anything but Jensen as she spoke.
Jensen waited until they were both seated before answering, kicking Jay's foot lightly under the table to gain her attention. "I missed you, too."
Smile widening, Jay kicked back. "Good," she said.
Jensen suddenly couldn't wait to know what the rest of the year would be like.
Jensen shows Jay her studio
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see."
"You said that last time," Jay pouted, eyes taking in all the scenery as Jensen drove her through a part of town she hadn't seen before.
"Well, ask me again in three minutes and see if the answer changes," Jensen said wryly. "That's a real solid scientific method you got there, Padalecki."
"You like my method, Ackles, admit it!" Jay threw a hand out in Jensen's direction, poking her stomach.
"Haven't really seen your method, yet," Jensen murmured, and goddamnit, that was not fair. Jay felt heat smolder in her belly, but there wasn't anything she could do about it at the moment.
"Sociology students aren't supposed to have scientific methods," she said, instead of tackling Jensen and sending the car off the road. "We're a soft science, haven't you heard? We just talk about feelings and use them to analyze survey data."
Jensen grinned and put her right hand on Jay's thigh instead of answering. Jay turned back to the window to watch buildings and people fly by outside the car.
After about five more minutes of comfortable silence, Jensen pulled into street parking in front of a large brick building. Jay got out and waited on the sidewalk for Jensen to lock the car and join her. Jay tried to find a name on the front door of the building as Jensen led her to it and used a key to unlock it, but it just had the address in faded brass numbers.
"Jensen," she whined, trying to get an answer. "What's going on?"
Jensen took her hand and kissed the knuckles, pulling Jay along behind her without answering. They got into an ancient elevator at the end of the front hall and went up to the third floor, where they got out and finally ended up in front of a wooden door with a plaque proclaiming it "unit 313."
"Where are we?" Jay asked again, and Jensen finally opened the door and motioned her inside.
"It's, uh, it's my studio - I wanted to show it to you," Jensen said as Jay took in the space. The room was bordered by three walls made almost entirely of windows, and filled mostly by a big drafting table under a huge skylight in the ceiling. Pads of paper were everywhere, as well as large stacks of frames leaning against the walls and everything else, including the squishy-looking couch across from the drafting table. Jay couldn't explain why it made her speechless - she imagined that most architecture students had similar work studios - but it was like looking into Jensen's private life, the parts of herself that she kept secret and didn't seem to share with anyone.
Jay must have stood there silently for too long, because Jensen started backtracking.
"It's dumb, I'm sorry, it's not like it's real art or anyth - mmphh!"
"It's amazing," Jay whispered, in between placing kisses on Jensen's mouth. "I love it, and it is art, and I want you to show me everything."
Jensen's face went red, but she kissed Jay back enthusiastically before showing her around the room and explaining her work. Jay knew she didn't understand it as completely as Jensen did, but she knew it was beautiful - of course it was, it was clearly a part of Jensen. She spent the rest of the day in a wonderful, ridiculous happy mood.
Jensen meets Chad for the first time
"Okay, there are three simple rules for meeting and interacting with Chad," Jay said, watching with amusement at the way Jensen's hands twitched. She probably wanted to take notes like the overachiever she was. It was strange that they'd gone this long without Jensen and Chad ever crossing paths, but Jay had a vested interest in making sure Chad wouldn't scare Jensen away. Which was why this meeting had been carefully planned, and why Jay had given Chad extra coaching the night before. She didn't really expect any of it to stick, which had led to the three rules conversation with Jensen.
"Three rules," Jensen repeated, clearly ready to commit them to memory, and motioned for Jay to go on.
"One - when he hits on you - and he will hit on you - tell him to fuck off in no uncertain terms."
"He knows I'm your girlfriend, right?" Jensen asked.
Jay sighed. If only it were that simple. "Yes," she replied. "He knows. But he's still gonna hit on you at least once, and the louder and more humiliating your rejection, the longer it will stick. Same thing goes for any threesome requests with both of us."
"Okay," Jensen said, sounding very unsure. "What are rules two and three?"
"Two - he's probably going to give you a "hurt my lesbian wingman and I'll hurt you" speech. Ignore it, because it will probably be very offensive, but he doesn't mean it that way."
Jensen nodded, giving her a sidelong glance. "Uh, why is he your friend, again?"
Jay smiled. "Because of rule number three - no matter how annoying he is, Chad's heart is in the right place, so please give him time to grow on you."
"I will try," Jensen promised. She turned to pick up their takeout order when her name was called, and Jay helped by picking up napkins and chopsticks. Once they had their dinner packed up, they headed out the door and walked the few blocks to Jay's apartment where they would be meeting Chad. Jay had left very specific instructions and consequences about the level of cleanliness she expected to see, but she was still relieved to find that everything looked good when they arrived.
Chad was sitting on the couch in the living room, thankfully, Jay noticed, wearing both a shirt and pants. Chad tended to take his relaxation time very seriously and most often half-nude. He looked up at them as they entered after dropping off the food in the kitchen, his gaze going immediately to Jensen.
"Man, Jay," he said. "You have got excellent taste in chicks."
Jensen's eyes widened and she might have been about to protest, but Jay interrupted by kicking Chad in the shins. "Have some decency," she scolded.
"It's nice to meet you," Jensen offered, seating herself in an armchair about as far away from the couch as it was possible to get. Jay hovered at the side, leaning against one arm.
"You, too." Chad replied. "Look, I know Jay is all monogamous and shit, and I totally respect that, so you don't have to worry about me hitting on you or anything. I wouldn't snake her like that."
Jay laughed. "Did my speech actually penetrate?"
Chad looked pained. "Man, don't set me up with words like that," he said. "It's mean when I can't just run with them."
Jensen relaxed back into her chair and poked Jay's thigh. "You didn't say he was funny," she said. "I can enjoy a good sex joke now and again - try living with Danneel without developing a sixth grader's sense of humor."
Jay just shook her head at both of them. "Well, I'm glad to see my nights of sleepless worry about how this meeting would go were useless."
"Uh," Chad said. "Maybe not - I can't let this part go, Jay, it's for your own good." He turned to Jensen and put on what he called his "serious shit" face. Jay privately called it his "constipation" face, which she supposed wasn't really that different.
"You clean?" Chad asked, and Jay stifled a choking cough with her hand. She didn't recover in time to shut Chad up before Jensen replied.
"Completely," she said. "Also, I'm monogamous, too."
Chad nodded agreeably. "Cool, cool. You planning on ripping out Jay's heart and running off to the coast or wherever?"
"Chad," Jay finally protested, but Jensen just grinned and poked Jay's thigh again.
"No way," she told Chad, who gave another satisfied nod.
"You finished?" Jay asked, standing to go bring in their food before it got cold.
"Yeah," Chad said. "Except, if you ever need sperm for anything - you know, babies or whatever, I'm totally your man." Jay could hear the leer in his voice.
"Chad!" Jay yelled from the kitchen, but when she got back to the living room Jensen was laughing so hard she'd almost slid off the armchair. Jay passed around their dinner, and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Genevieve visits Portland
When Genevieve called to ask if she could come visit for a long weekend in May, Jay said yes immediately without stopping to think about her schedule. She could always shift things around, and it was harder for Genevieve to arrange time off in the first place. Jay texted Jensen after finalizing the dates with Gen. She couldn't wait for Genevieve to meet Jensen - it would finally bring the two halves of her life together. It sounded corny when she thought it, so she made sure to never mention the idea to Jensen or Genevieve, but it did seem that way to her.
Jensen was, understandably, more nervous about it.
"What if she hates me?" Jensen asked for the third time that night. The first two times, Jay had distracted her with sex, but now they were tired out, resting together in bed before they had to get up and find something to eat.
"She won't hate you," Jay said. "She's the one who bullied me into asking you out, trust me, she is totally pro-Jensen."
Jensen hadn't been totally convinced, but when they picked Genevieve up from the airport and took her out for lunch, she seemed calmer. Jensen had to concentrate on driving, and let Genevieve and Jay chatter and catch up, and by the time they reached their destination, she'd calmed down even further.
"I didn't know you'd be so tall," Genevieve said as they waited to be seated at the restaurant. "I feel like a midget around Jay as it is."
"She's just right," Jay said loyally, but Jensen laughed.
"Yeah, I'm too damn tall. Makes it really hard to find good jeans."
Genevieve gave them a scrutinizing look as Jay automatically slid into the booth they were shown to first, so that Jensen could get up and go to the bathroom when she needed. Jensen sat next to Jay and arranged their glasses, turning over her own coffee cup and putting Jay's on the edge of the table to be taken away.
"You fit each other," Genevieve said, taking her seat on the opposite side of the table. "Height-wise and otherwise."
"You know that already?" Jensen asked. She probably meant to make it sound like a joke, but Jay knew she wanted Genevieve's stamp of approval and that the question was most likely genuine.
"Yeah," Genevieve said slowly. "I do. I mean, I hear a lot about you from Jay, and now that I'm seeing you together, it's really obvious."
Jensen grinned. "I hear lots about you, too," she said.
"Oh, really," Genevieve said, with an entirely inappropriate amount of glee. "I can see that we need to exchange stories."
Jay could see where this was headed, and she opened her menu in an attempt to cut them both off. "I'm starving," she said. "You guys better be ready to order soon."
Genevieve and Jensen exchanged a dangerous look. Jensen put one hand on Jay's thigh and squeezed lightly. "Yeah," she said. "Your leg does feel kinda hollow."
"Did she tell you about how she once beat our school's version of a quarterback in a pie-eating contest?"
"Genevieve," Jay whined, but it was too late, and she consigned herself to a lunch where she would be the main topic of conversation. It was worth it for the way Jensen relaxed in degrees, warming to Genevieve and no longer worried about her blessing.
By the time Genevieve left two days later, she and Jensen were teaming up to pick on Jay like pros, and Jay felt with utter certainty that she wanted to spend the rest of her life just like that.
Outtakes
These are all scenes that, while finished and which don't contradict the canon events of the main story, didn't fit in with the narrative as a whole and had to be cut for pacing reasons. But I'm still kind of fond of them, so here they are - four scenes, all between 400 and 800 words each.
Jensen sees Jay again after winter break
Jensen hadn't expected to actually enjoy her visit home - she was so caught up in thinking about Jay that she didn't know if anything else could compare. It was nice, though, even if she did miss Jay, and texted her as often as she thought she could get away with. She didn't share the news of her new possible relationship with her parents. They had been very supportive of Danneel when she had come out, but Jensen knew it was always different when it came to family, so she planned to tell them later, once she felt a little surer. Her sister was another story altogether - she had wormed it out of Jensen her first night there, and thought it was cool to have a secret together from their parents.
When she met Misha, Vicki and Danneel back in Portland for the drive to Misha's parents' house for the rest of her holidays, all bets were off when it came to talking about Jay. Misha teased her mercilessly about hearts and romance until Vicki intervened by swatting him over the head. Danneel was dealing with her own worry about Adrianne, and only participated in torturing Jensen half-heartedly, and the time went quickly and enjoyably for the most part. Still, Jensen was more than ready to get back home and see Jay again.
She was nervous about how quickly and easily things seemed to be happening with Jay, but she kept it to herself. She knew her friends would only tell her to stop worrying about the fact that things were going so well, and she really was trying.
She met Jay for coffee on the first week of the quarter. They had to plan their meetings now that they didn't share any classes, although Jensen also had vague ideas about more study sessions in the library when Jay had a shift.
"Oh good, you're still gay," Jay said after Jensen kissed her in greeting. It was probably too long and deep for a public place, but Jensen had missed her.
Jensen arched an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Jay shrugged. "No reason," she said, tripping over her feet as she pulled a chair out from their small table. "I'm just glad to see you, I - I missed you." Her eyes looked at anything but Jensen as she spoke.
Jensen waited until they were both seated before answering, kicking Jay's foot lightly under the table to gain her attention. "I missed you, too."
Smile widening, Jay kicked back. "Good," she said.
Jensen suddenly couldn't wait to know what the rest of the year would be like.
Jensen shows Jay her studio
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see."
"You said that last time," Jay pouted, eyes taking in all the scenery as Jensen drove her through a part of town she hadn't seen before.
"Well, ask me again in three minutes and see if the answer changes," Jensen said wryly. "That's a real solid scientific method you got there, Padalecki."
"You like my method, Ackles, admit it!" Jay threw a hand out in Jensen's direction, poking her stomach.
"Haven't really seen your method, yet," Jensen murmured, and goddamnit, that was not fair. Jay felt heat smolder in her belly, but there wasn't anything she could do about it at the moment.
"Sociology students aren't supposed to have scientific methods," she said, instead of tackling Jensen and sending the car off the road. "We're a soft science, haven't you heard? We just talk about feelings and use them to analyze survey data."
Jensen grinned and put her right hand on Jay's thigh instead of answering. Jay turned back to the window to watch buildings and people fly by outside the car.
After about five more minutes of comfortable silence, Jensen pulled into street parking in front of a large brick building. Jay got out and waited on the sidewalk for Jensen to lock the car and join her. Jay tried to find a name on the front door of the building as Jensen led her to it and used a key to unlock it, but it just had the address in faded brass numbers.
"Jensen," she whined, trying to get an answer. "What's going on?"
Jensen took her hand and kissed the knuckles, pulling Jay along behind her without answering. They got into an ancient elevator at the end of the front hall and went up to the third floor, where they got out and finally ended up in front of a wooden door with a plaque proclaiming it "unit 313."
"Where are we?" Jay asked again, and Jensen finally opened the door and motioned her inside.
"It's, uh, it's my studio - I wanted to show it to you," Jensen said as Jay took in the space. The room was bordered by three walls made almost entirely of windows, and filled mostly by a big drafting table under a huge skylight in the ceiling. Pads of paper were everywhere, as well as large stacks of frames leaning against the walls and everything else, including the squishy-looking couch across from the drafting table. Jay couldn't explain why it made her speechless - she imagined that most architecture students had similar work studios - but it was like looking into Jensen's private life, the parts of herself that she kept secret and didn't seem to share with anyone.
Jay must have stood there silently for too long, because Jensen started backtracking.
"It's dumb, I'm sorry, it's not like it's real art or anyth - mmphh!"
"It's amazing," Jay whispered, in between placing kisses on Jensen's mouth. "I love it, and it is art, and I want you to show me everything."
Jensen's face went red, but she kissed Jay back enthusiastically before showing her around the room and explaining her work. Jay knew she didn't understand it as completely as Jensen did, but she knew it was beautiful - of course it was, it was clearly a part of Jensen. She spent the rest of the day in a wonderful, ridiculous happy mood.
Jensen meets Chad for the first time
"Okay, there are three simple rules for meeting and interacting with Chad," Jay said, watching with amusement at the way Jensen's hands twitched. She probably wanted to take notes like the overachiever she was. It was strange that they'd gone this long without Jensen and Chad ever crossing paths, but Jay had a vested interest in making sure Chad wouldn't scare Jensen away. Which was why this meeting had been carefully planned, and why Jay had given Chad extra coaching the night before. She didn't really expect any of it to stick, which had led to the three rules conversation with Jensen.
"Three rules," Jensen repeated, clearly ready to commit them to memory, and motioned for Jay to go on.
"One - when he hits on you - and he will hit on you - tell him to fuck off in no uncertain terms."
"He knows I'm your girlfriend, right?" Jensen asked.
Jay sighed. If only it were that simple. "Yes," she replied. "He knows. But he's still gonna hit on you at least once, and the louder and more humiliating your rejection, the longer it will stick. Same thing goes for any threesome requests with both of us."
"Okay," Jensen said, sounding very unsure. "What are rules two and three?"
"Two - he's probably going to give you a "hurt my lesbian wingman and I'll hurt you" speech. Ignore it, because it will probably be very offensive, but he doesn't mean it that way."
Jensen nodded, giving her a sidelong glance. "Uh, why is he your friend, again?"
Jay smiled. "Because of rule number three - no matter how annoying he is, Chad's heart is in the right place, so please give him time to grow on you."
"I will try," Jensen promised. She turned to pick up their takeout order when her name was called, and Jay helped by picking up napkins and chopsticks. Once they had their dinner packed up, they headed out the door and walked the few blocks to Jay's apartment where they would be meeting Chad. Jay had left very specific instructions and consequences about the level of cleanliness she expected to see, but she was still relieved to find that everything looked good when they arrived.
Chad was sitting on the couch in the living room, thankfully, Jay noticed, wearing both a shirt and pants. Chad tended to take his relaxation time very seriously and most often half-nude. He looked up at them as they entered after dropping off the food in the kitchen, his gaze going immediately to Jensen.
"Man, Jay," he said. "You have got excellent taste in chicks."
Jensen's eyes widened and she might have been about to protest, but Jay interrupted by kicking Chad in the shins. "Have some decency," she scolded.
"It's nice to meet you," Jensen offered, seating herself in an armchair about as far away from the couch as it was possible to get. Jay hovered at the side, leaning against one arm.
"You, too." Chad replied. "Look, I know Jay is all monogamous and shit, and I totally respect that, so you don't have to worry about me hitting on you or anything. I wouldn't snake her like that."
Jay laughed. "Did my speech actually penetrate?"
Chad looked pained. "Man, don't set me up with words like that," he said. "It's mean when I can't just run with them."
Jensen relaxed back into her chair and poked Jay's thigh. "You didn't say he was funny," she said. "I can enjoy a good sex joke now and again - try living with Danneel without developing a sixth grader's sense of humor."
Jay just shook her head at both of them. "Well, I'm glad to see my nights of sleepless worry about how this meeting would go were useless."
"Uh," Chad said. "Maybe not - I can't let this part go, Jay, it's for your own good." He turned to Jensen and put on what he called his "serious shit" face. Jay privately called it his "constipation" face, which she supposed wasn't really that different.
"You clean?" Chad asked, and Jay stifled a choking cough with her hand. She didn't recover in time to shut Chad up before Jensen replied.
"Completely," she said. "Also, I'm monogamous, too."
Chad nodded agreeably. "Cool, cool. You planning on ripping out Jay's heart and running off to the coast or wherever?"
"Chad," Jay finally protested, but Jensen just grinned and poked Jay's thigh again.
"No way," she told Chad, who gave another satisfied nod.
"You finished?" Jay asked, standing to go bring in their food before it got cold.
"Yeah," Chad said. "Except, if you ever need sperm for anything - you know, babies or whatever, I'm totally your man." Jay could hear the leer in his voice.
"Chad!" Jay yelled from the kitchen, but when she got back to the living room Jensen was laughing so hard she'd almost slid off the armchair. Jay passed around their dinner, and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Genevieve visits Portland
When Genevieve called to ask if she could come visit for a long weekend in May, Jay said yes immediately without stopping to think about her schedule. She could always shift things around, and it was harder for Genevieve to arrange time off in the first place. Jay texted Jensen after finalizing the dates with Gen. She couldn't wait for Genevieve to meet Jensen - it would finally bring the two halves of her life together. It sounded corny when she thought it, so she made sure to never mention the idea to Jensen or Genevieve, but it did seem that way to her.
Jensen was, understandably, more nervous about it.
"What if she hates me?" Jensen asked for the third time that night. The first two times, Jay had distracted her with sex, but now they were tired out, resting together in bed before they had to get up and find something to eat.
"She won't hate you," Jay said. "She's the one who bullied me into asking you out, trust me, she is totally pro-Jensen."
Jensen hadn't been totally convinced, but when they picked Genevieve up from the airport and took her out for lunch, she seemed calmer. Jensen had to concentrate on driving, and let Genevieve and Jay chatter and catch up, and by the time they reached their destination, she'd calmed down even further.
"I didn't know you'd be so tall," Genevieve said as they waited to be seated at the restaurant. "I feel like a midget around Jay as it is."
"She's just right," Jay said loyally, but Jensen laughed.
"Yeah, I'm too damn tall. Makes it really hard to find good jeans."
Genevieve gave them a scrutinizing look as Jay automatically slid into the booth they were shown to first, so that Jensen could get up and go to the bathroom when she needed. Jensen sat next to Jay and arranged their glasses, turning over her own coffee cup and putting Jay's on the edge of the table to be taken away.
"You fit each other," Genevieve said, taking her seat on the opposite side of the table. "Height-wise and otherwise."
"You know that already?" Jensen asked. She probably meant to make it sound like a joke, but Jay knew she wanted Genevieve's stamp of approval and that the question was most likely genuine.
"Yeah," Genevieve said slowly. "I do. I mean, I hear a lot about you from Jay, and now that I'm seeing you together, it's really obvious."
Jensen grinned. "I hear lots about you, too," she said.
"Oh, really," Genevieve said, with an entirely inappropriate amount of glee. "I can see that we need to exchange stories."
Jay could see where this was headed, and she opened her menu in an attempt to cut them both off. "I'm starving," she said. "You guys better be ready to order soon."
Genevieve and Jensen exchanged a dangerous look. Jensen put one hand on Jay's thigh and squeezed lightly. "Yeah," she said. "Your leg does feel kinda hollow."
"Did she tell you about how she once beat our school's version of a quarterback in a pie-eating contest?"
"Genevieve," Jay whined, but it was too late, and she consigned herself to a lunch where she would be the main topic of conversation. It was worth it for the way Jensen relaxed in degrees, warming to Genevieve and no longer worried about her blessing.
By the time Genevieve left two days later, she and Jensen were teaming up to pick on Jay like pros, and Jay felt with utter certainty that she wanted to spend the rest of her life just like that.