Dragon Wings: The Outskirts of Heaven - Chapter V
Three days later it seemed Chris’ week was about to be realised. Just as they were about to start their training session, a runner came and told them that they were required in the Commander’s office. Jensen paled, but said nothing as Jared put his hand to his elbow to steady him. Chris and Steve shared a resigned, weary look and nodded. “Well, folks,” Chris stated, falsely cheery, “let’s go see what the man in charge wants.”
They crossed the fields quickly, not hesitating or trying to draw it out. When they reached the Commander’s office, he was on the phone and he wasn’t happy. “Yes, sir. I am aware of the situation. That doesn’t mean that I agree with this decision.” A moment of silence where they could see the older man’s expression turn black through the glass windows fronting the office. “That isn’t the bloody point! One of the dragons hasn’t been here a week and neither pair has been mated for any longer than that. They need more time.” More silence. “Yes, sir... Yes... No... Of course I do... Yes, sir.” The phone hit the cradle with brutal force, making a disconcordant jangle, and the Commander swore fiercely. He stopped when he saw them there and waved them in angrily.
“Commander, you wished to see us?” Chris spoke up gamely.
Jackman looked at him for a moment, then at the other three men standing before him. His voice, when he spoke, was a growl. “The powers that be have seen fit to assign you to your squadron. I did what I could, but they won’t be reasoned with. They’re desperate for more aerial support and can’t afford to let fighting dragons lay around at home, so they say. I’m sorry, men, but you leave tomorrow, on the first transport available. It leaves at 1400 from the Air Force base.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll be ready.” They were all surprised when it was Jensen who replied.
“You’ll be fitted for harnesses this afternoon; 1530 on the field nearest the supply shed.”
“Yes, sir.” Jared agreed and dared to ask, “May we take the rest of the day to contact our families?”
Nodding grimly, Jackman then dismissed them. “Do us proud. I wish you all the best.” He watched them leave, saw the way the eldest two bumped shoulders with every other step, how the tallest had his hand firmly on the neck of the youngest, and their solidarity as a group. They were too young. All the ones that got sent were. He sighed and signed the orders that would send them on their way. Fifteen years this war had been running. How much longer could it possibly go?
***
Jared got Jensen back to their room, stripped him and put him under the covers of their bed. The young dragon was pale, and he was shaking again. He was shocked. They all were. Jared knew his own hands were shaking now that he wasn’t touching Jensen. Chris and Steve hadn’t said a word either, and that didn’t bode well.
“Jay?” Jensen’s voice was timid.
“Yeah, Jen?” He mustered up a smile for his mate.
Jensen held out a hand to him. “It’s okay for you to be afraid too. You don’t have to be all strong and stoic for me. Come to bed?”
There was no way Jared could refuse that, or any reason he would want to, so he stripped out of his uniform too and climbed in beside Jensen. They curled up together, Jensen holding Jared just as firmly as he was holding him. Finally, Jared voiced what they had all been thinking, “I know Chris said this might happen, but it never really seemed like it would, you know? The theory was there, but it wasn’t a reality.”
“And now it is.” Jensen finished, understanding perfectly. “We’ll handle it. There are four of us, and we can all lean on each other. We’ll make it out of this alive and then we’ll forget it ever happened.”
Jared knew it was terribly naive, and he knew Jensen was only saying it to make them feel better. They were both well aware that they could die from the moment they left the safety of the United States. They might never see their families again, their friends. And there was no way they would ever forget. “Yeah, Jen. We’ll get a little farm somewhere between our two families, get ourselves a couple of pups, and enjoy being together for the rest of our lives.”
Jensen hummed low, apparently liking the sound of that. A moment later, though, he raised sad eyes to Jared’s. “Jared?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Can we...” Jared cut him off with a fierce kiss.
“Yes.” He whispered. “Yes.” And kissed him soundly again.
It was slow and gentle between them, but somehow desperate. Like already they had to make sure that the other was still there, that they were still whole and safe. Jensen rode Jared, letting his cock slide right up into him, and they rocked together in a rhythm designed to draw out their pleasure. It couldn’t last forever, and all too soon Jensen made a soft cry and climaxed. Jared wasn’t far behind, and the dragon collapsed against his mate, quietly crying. Jared held him tight, his own eyes wet, and swore to himself that Jensen would come to no harm.
***
“Hey, Momma.” Jensen was smiling softly as he spoke into the telephone. The Commander had given them his office to make their calls in private, but when Jared would have let Jensen go in alone, his mate had rolled his eyes and grabbed his hand to drag him inside.
"Jensen? Is that you, baby boy?"
“Yeah, Momma. It’s me.” Jared felt his eyes burn as he watched Jensen try and blink the threatening tears away. His voice was forcefully cheerful, but as it turned out, he needn’t have bothered.
“Sweetheart, what is it? Have you found your mate? Is he not good to you?”
Jared blinked in surprise. Was that really a large concern among the dragons? Were there so many riders that mistreated their mates? How could that be? Jared would cut off his own arm before he would raise a hand to Jensen in cruelty.
Jensen shook his head and gave a pleased little laugh. “Yes, I found him.” He paused, grinning widely at Jared. “It was Jared, Momma. Jared is my mate. He’s perfect.”
Donna Ackles laughed delightedly down the line. “Of course he is. Oh, Jensen, I’m so happy for you. I knew you were hoping...but there was just no way to know. When are you both coming to visit? I want to spoil my son-in-law rotten!”
The smile disappeared from Jensen’s face, and Jared clasped his shoulder firmly in support. “Ah, not for a while, Momma.” Jensen stalled in his explanation.
Jensen? The distress in Donna’s voice meant she already knew what her son was going to say, but still she hoped she was wrong.
‘We...we’re leaving tomorrow. We’ve been deployed...” He broke off again, the tears escaping his eyes as he heard his mother cry out. “I’m sorry, Momma, I’m so sorry.”
Donna, however, was not a weak woman. She pulled herself together quickly. Oh no, baby. Don’t you dare apologise. You go over there and you make me proud, then you bring yourself home in one piece, both of you. You hear me?”
Jared took the phone from Jensen when it was clear he wasn’t able to say anything. “I’ll make sure we make it home to you, Mrs Ackles. Jen has been telling me about your Chicken Fried Steaks since we met. No way am I letting anything happen until I get to taste them.”
The woman made a sound; half sob, half laugh. ”You just let me know when you’re coming and we’ll have a good ol’ Texas barbecue with all the fixings. And it’s Donna. Don’t you ever call me Mrs Ackles again!” Jensen’s laugh sounded as strangled as his mother’s. He took the phone back.
“That sounds good, Momma. Is...is Dad home?”
”He sure is, sweetheart. So is Mac, and Josh came to visit too.”
The rest of Jensen’s family huddled around the phone shortly thereafter. Alan and Josh were falsely cheerful while Mac and Carly, Josh’s wife, were teary and teasing by turns. With Josh being a rider of a courier, he had been exempted from service when his dragon wife fell pregnant. Mackenzie was still too young a dragon to be mated. So Jensen was the first Ackles child to be sent to war. Their fear was almost palpable over the crackling telephone line, but they all put on a brave face. When it came time to say goodbye, they all broke down into tears, even the stoic older men. As soon as the handset was placed in the cradle, Jared had an armful of sobbing mate to hold. He held him until he pulled back and wiped determinedly at his eyes.
“You need to call your family too. Do you want me to go?”
It was Jared’s turn to roll his eyes. “As if.” He picked up the handset and dialled the number. As he waited for someone to pick up, he realised that it was likely that his family hadn’t yet received his letter telling them about Jensen any more than Jensen’s had reached his.
”Padalecki residence.” The answer was deep and definitely masculine.
“Dad? Dad, hi, it’s Jared.”
”Jared! Good to hear from you, son. Wait a minute and I’ll grab the others.” There was a period of silence on the other end, then a teenage girl’s squeal. Jaaaaay!”
Jared laughed. “Hi, Meggy. Hi, Mom.” His mother was tsk-ing in the background. “Is Jeff there?”
”No, honey. They’ve moved him to the Galveston Training Facility. He didn’t find his mate in the most recent recruits, so they’ll keep moving him around. You Padalecki men are just so picky.” She laughed. It was a long standing joke in their family. Their father had taken a long time to find his mate too. Perhaps it was something genetic.
“Guess I’m less so. I’m mated Mom.” Jared couldn’t keep the wide grin from his face as he told them. Meg gave another girly scream and sounded like she was dancing. His parents were laughing and no doubt hugging.
“Oh, honey, that is such good news. Who is it?” The excitement was clear in Sharon’s voice.
Jared waved at Jensen to speak, and he blushed as he spoke. “Hi, Mrs Padalecki.”
“Jensen? Is that Jensen? Oh, Jared, how wonderful!”
”Congratulations, son. I know how close you two were growing up.” Gerry sounded so proud, and Jared hated to burst their bubble.
“Thanks, Dad. Only, that isn’t actually the reason I’m calling.” He heard Sharon’s gasped ‘no’, but continued, “The thing is, Jen is a heavyweight, and we’ve been dispatched as fast as they could manage.”
”When?” Even Meg was subdued now.
“Tomorrow.” Jared told them, wincing when the choked off sobs started. Jensen leaned into him, offering comfort, and Jared wrapped his arms around him.
“I’m so sorry.” Jensen told them, and Jared tightened his hold, but Gerry beat his son to an answer.
”Nonsense. It isn’t your fault, Jensen. Any dragon can be sent to war at any time. You two are just going sooner rather than later. What really matters is when you return, not when you leave.” If he had been able to just then, Jared would have been hugging the life out of his father.
“Thank you, sir.” Jensen whispered.
“We’ve gotta’ go. There are others waiting to use the phone. I love y’all!” His family responded in kind, and then they were gone. Jared pulled Jensen impossibly closer and bent down to kiss him, overcome with his many conflicting emotions. As always, Jensen simply opened to it, and Jared felt it calm him. “Come on, let’s give Chris and Steve their turn.”
“Jared?” Jensen hesitated just inside the door.
“Yeah, Jen?”
“We’re going to be alright. We’re coming home to our families.” It was more determined than Jared had ever heard him, and it rang true.
“Yes. We are.”
****************************************END OF PART ONE****************************************
The title for Part One was taken from the following poem:
To All That Fly
John D. Duvall
May God grant you blue skies aloft,
With winds of calm by land,
As you play on the outskirts of heaven,
On the fragile wings of man.
Continue on the DRAGON WINGS PART TWO: The Clean War, the War in the Air - Chapter I: http://lady-krystal-79.livejournal.com/39983.html