"The worst mistake is giving up (You are part of everything)" (7/7) Epilogue
Epilogue
Red River County near Clarksville/Texas
Present Day,
March 1st, 2008
“Come on, Jensen. Mike and Tom are here. And our parents will be here soon as well. Get your ass down here and join your own birthday party.”
Jensen laughed, looked at his reflection in the mirror and decided that he looked presentable enough to greet his guests. On his way down he straightened some of the pictures they had put up.
When he walked into the living room, Mike was lounging on the couch they had taken from Jensen’s apartment and which actually had been a in his old room on the farm before that. Mike was patting Harley, who had his head on Mike’s leg and drooled slightly on the dark slacks Mike had put on.
Tom was wandering around, Sadie hot on his heels, admiring the paintings and sketches up on the walls. Jared was nowhere to be seen, but Jensen guessed he was busy in the kitchen, creating chaos but still managing to come up with something edible.
“Hey birthday boy. It’s amazing what you made out of this place. When you moved in it totally didn’t look like you guys at all.”
“Thanks Tom. Yeah.. It took a lot of work. But it always was home.”
“Yeah, that is was. The first time I stepped inside I knew it was home.”
Jared had come up behind him, just like he had this morning and put his arms around him. Jensen thought he should feel more uncomfortable with a position like this, but he couldn’t bring himself to care all that much.
Mike grinned at them, the knowing grin he'd had since he knew what was going on. He still prided himself with being the one who brought them together, no matter how often they told him that it wasn’t the case.
He still would say that his comment at the first barbeque had triggered everything. Jensen had given up arguing about that with him, it was senseless anyway.
“That’s cute. How did you end up with this place anyway.”
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jared blushing slightly. They hadn’t told their friends yet how they had decided to move out here, out of the city. They had just told them facts when they had needed help with moving.
“It was a Christmas present.”
Jared was now burying his face in Jensen’s neck and Tom looked at them curiously.
“From whom?”
“Jay here.”
“What? When the hell did you buy a ranch, Jared?”
Tom looked somewhat stunned, which Jensen understood a little. Since this whole thing had started Tom and Jared hadn’t spent as much time together as they used to, both busy with their jobs and life in general.
Jensen had always thought Tom had known about the ranch, but apparently he didn’t. Jared slowly took his head away from Jensen’s shoulder and smiled at their friends somewhat sheepishly.
“Uh, back in October. I don’t really know what I was thinking. Jensen had told me about his grandparents wanting to sell this place. He sounded.. uh.. sad. And I just… I called JD and had him set everything up. I wanted to give it to Jensen when the time was right. It was kind of cheesy to do it on Christmas, but I was hoping we’d still be together.”
The twin expressions of amazement of their faces was mirroring perfectly what Jensen still felt when he thought about that day.
Jared hadn’t only giving him his home, he'd asked him to live together, to actually move out here together. There wasn’t much he remembered of that day because he was spent almost entirely in bed, he did remember Jared’s face though when he had said yes.
Tom sighed, flopped down next to Mike on the couch and shook his head. "You two are actually amazing. How the hell can you be that perfect after all you went through?”
“Well Tommy, maybe that is their secret. They went through so much, drew them closer together. You know, Sandy already said way back that those two would be epic. Trouble and an epic love story and all that. I think she was right.”
Sometimes Jensen was still scared of Mike’s ability to read people and to say the right things at the right time. He had never gotten used to it when they still worked together and he had the slight feeling that he never would.
“So tell us what you guys are doing. I know that Mike is alone in the San Antonio office now but you are still working as a lawyer right?”
Jensen nodded.
“Yep. Small cases mostly. Those which don’t require a lot of time or are charity cases. I am still a partner at CW and when they need me, I am there. I am working to not get out of it. I actually like being a lawyer. And working from home has it benefits. Other than that, I am writing songs for Chris and Steve again. They might actually demand a new one when they show up.”
“You gonna sing for me babe?”
Jared had said it as a joke but when Jensen looked at him all serious and no traces of humour to be found, Jared frowned.
“Jen?”
“Maybe?”
“I love you.”
“I know. Love you, too.”
Jensen thought the kiss he got was more than deserved.
“Oh my, I am blind now.”
“Mike. Stop being a drama queen. It’s cute. Just look at them. All in love and happy.”
“Yeah. I know. Disgustingly sweet. I think Steve will be pleased to see it, since he won the bet.”
Jared perked up at that.
“Bet?”
Mike just grinned and ignored Tom’s glare. “Yep. Since that barbeque where you were clinging to Jen like your life depended on it. Steve, Chris and Riley made a bet about how long you two would take to be the perfect happy couple.”
Jensen opted to just ignore them and concentrate on Jared’s happy smile.
“Really? You’d sing? I love your voice”
“Yeah I know… Maybe. Let’s see how the party goes, okay?”
***
An hour later, after Jared had given him his birthday present, which was a sketch he had done after the first time Jared and Jensen had met and which had Jensen gulping down emotions, everyone was grouped up in the living room.
Their friends, both set of parents and siblings as well as JD, Alona, Kripke and Manners. Chris and Steve had actually taken a break from their recent tour to attend and had of course demanded new songs the second they had been inside the house. The only ones that were missing were Danneel and Riley, who were on their honeymoon.
Jensen once had actually asked about Kristine, just to know what had happened. Danneel had just smiled, told him it was okay and said that Kristine wasn’t going to be joining family gatherings for a long time. Jared had refused to follow the trail, didn’t want to think about it anymore and Jensen respected that.
It had taken some time for Jared and his father to start something like a normal relationship again. Jerry had tried and was still trying to make it up to Jared. He didn’t even dare to voice any doubts concerning Jared’s relationship with Jensen, even though Jensen knew how surprised Jerry had been by it.
Jensen didn’t know how Jared had managed to get them to coordinate their schedules, but they were all there. This was a birthday party he liked, not that he ever had anything against the birthday bashes Mike threw, but this was so much better.
He was happy, he'd found what he had been looking for. And for the first time in his life, Jensen didn’t regret following his instincts instead of what his mind had said.
It was an added bonus that both families seemed to get a long. Jensen’s parents were amazed by what they had done with the farm house and the land. It didn’t look like his grandparent’s home at all anymore. Mostly thanks to Jared’s creative streak and ability to actually come through with ideas.
They had taken a lot out of Jared’s loft to put up on the walls and added some of Jensen’s stylish furniture to perfect the picture. It surprisingly fit in and it fitted them well.
A mixture of things, like their lives. Like them.
This was so much more than a birthday party, though. Mike was the first one to figure out that they had some announcements to make, mainly due to Jared’s insistent babbling about having to talk to his parents first before he told everyone else.
But once Mike had gotten wind of it, Jared couldn’t talk himself out of telling anyone anymore. He stuttered at first, something Jensen hadn’t seen in a long time, but he got it out eventually and earned a round of cheers. Jared had managed to score a contract with a major publishing house, which was willing to publish his first graphic novel and to actually make a series out of it. It had been one of Jared’s dreams while being in college and Jensen was so damn proud that he couldn’t even say it anymore.
Both Jared and he knew that Jerry had had his hands in it. It was his way of trying to make things up to Jared. And it was one of these times where Jared didn’t mind having his dad as a helping hand. Jared still worked for PCCM, worked for JD most of the time.
There were projects he could do from home and not be in San Antonio for and if he had to be, it usually was just for a few days. Much like Jensen, he was mostly an artist and a rancher now. And Jared was finally learning that being intelligent wasn’t a curse.
Jared’s deal wasn’t the only thing they had to announce though. The other one had just happened two nights ago and both of them were still kind of confused about it. It hadn’t been planned but once it was out in the open, both Jared and Jensen hadn’t even thought about their answer. Jensen just wondered how they would actually tell the news. A room full of friends and family was definitely a good opportunity.
Jared grinned, kept close to Jensen the whole time and was practically vibrating with excitement. He wasn’t even hiding it and Jensen wondered when someone would notice or actually mention the huge elephant on the room.
No one seemed to look at them strangely, which considering the way Jared was plastered against him was kind of strange. But then again their friends were used to that because it was an everyday occurrence and wasn’t that strange anymore.
Ever since Jensen and Jared had managed to defy all odds and become them, their friends and families had gotten used to them being inseparable. And if Jensen really thought about it, that’s what they had been even before it had gotten serious. So no wonder no one caught up on Jared’s overly excited and touchy feely behaviour.
It took Sophia and Chad to arrive to set things in motion. Jared’s mother and Jensen’s dad were currently engaged in retelling how both Mackenzie and Megan had managed to embarrass their big brothers the first times they had been invited to family dinners.
Megan and Mackenzie thought it had been totally justifiable to announce that they understood why their brothers were having such huge crushes on each other. Both of them thought her brother’s boyfriend was freaking hot.
Both of them had managed to make Jared and Jensen blush and flustered. When Sophia almost ran into the house to hug Jared, both girls were still trying to explain that as sisters it had been their duty to check if the boyfriend was suitable for their big brothers.
Jensen thought it was kind of creepy how Sophia’s first look went to the one thing Jared had tried to make everyone notice without actually coming out and saying it. But then Jensen thought Jared might have told her already. Knowing Jared and his inability to keep secrets, it was more than likely.
Sophia just rushed through the room, leaving a rather confused Chad in her wake, grabbed Jared’s hand and started to grin. She was bouncing and trying to hug Jared at the same time before she actually just gave up and squealed.
All hell broke lose after that entrance. What two matching platinum bands with inscriptions could cause. Jensen, would for the rest of his life, think that it was amazing. He had found what he had been looking for and those bands were just a small reminder of what it had taken them to get where they were now.
It had definitely been the right decision.
THE END
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