Fic: An Unforgettable Moment (In Time) part five
Title: An Unforgettable Moment (In Time) part five
Please see Master Post for fic details.
Banner by nerrianah
“Jen…?”
He silently put down the Styrofoam cup on the coffee table in the living room and waited until he heard Jared move into the room before he turned around. Meeting Jared’s eyes, seeing them flash with apprehension and relief pushed him over the edge. After everything, after knocking him out, after helping some madman try to take the Gaia pool from him, after his parents’ deaths, he had a lot of nerve to be standing there looking like a little lost boy, so innocent and sweet.
“You son of a bitch” He snarled and he focused his power to throw Jared across the room and pin him to the wall.
Jared groaned, his head lolling to the side but his eyes stayed open and he remained conscious. “Jensen wait...”
“No!” He snarled and stalked towards him. “You lied to me Jared. You betrayed me. You betrayed Gaia. People are dying all over because of you. My parents died because of you.”
“I didn’t betray you Jensen.” He wheezed as he locked gazes with him.
He laughed bitterly, “No? Wasn’t it you who knocked me out? Spirited me away from the pool so that your friend, Jeff, could try to take it from me?”
“That’s not how it happened.”
He felt his control slipping and was only vaguely surprised when the glass in the framed picture beside Jared’s head cracked. He had spent so long siphoning the power off the pool that he had actually forgotten how powerful he was without it. He was going to have to be careful not to kill Jared until he had his answers.
“Really” He snarled sarcastically. “I may not have seen your face Jared but I remember what you said. I remember you apologizing for knocking me out just before I went under.”
“It was me that knocked you out.” He nodded, “But I didn’t do it to help the man that came to the house.”
“Right” He snorted, “I know I’ve done some stupid things in my time Jared. Like letting myself believe that I had sent you back in time all those years ago but I’m not that stupid. What other reason could there be? It was my job to protect the pool. If you knew the attack was coming you should have warned me and fought beside me. Not kidnapped me!”
“Just let me explain!” Jared begged softly, not raising his voice to the level that Jensen’s had managed. He almost appeared relaxed being pinned against the wall except for how his chest was heaving.
“So explain Jar…”
His demand was cut off as a knife sailed past his head and embedded in the wall beside Jared’s.
“Betrayer..!”
Where Jensen’s voice had risen with his anger, Chris’ was a low hiss, only able to be heard because of the silence that had fallen after the knife had hit the wall.
He didn’t bother to turn but watched as Jared’s eyes flicked between him and Chris, and probably Steve, somewhere behind him.
“I haven’t betrayed anyone.” He swore low.
“Really because from where I’m standing…”
Jensen held his hand up and heard Steve quieting Chris.
“Let’s look at the facts Jared.” He started low, “One, you knocked me out and forced me away from my duty of protecting the pool. Two, I make it back to the pool to find men swarming our home and searching for it.” He ticked his points off on his fingers, “Three, you sent yourself back through time to ensure that you could get me out of the way. Four, my parents have been murdered Jared! Who else but you knew who they were?”
Jensen ground his teeth against the knowledge screaming through him that Bree knew who he was too. That she would know he was from Richardson, Texas. That she would know who his parents were. It didn’t matter, there were too many things pointing towards Jared as being a part of this. Even if he wasn’t directly involved in the death of his parents, he was involved because he was working for the other side.
“Jensen.” Jared pleaded softly.
“No!” He yelled and ignored when the glass shattered outwards from the picture frame and a piece of it sliced into Jared’s cheek. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about this Jared. There is no good reason for breaking our cardinal law and moving through time. Jeffrey Morgan failed in some lost future or is it past now? And I found out you were playing for the other side isn’t that right? Somehow you managed to escape and used the pool to make sure things went your way this time, right? What? Did he promise not to kill me and you could keep me as some sort of pet? You used me Jared. You lied to me. And now it’s over.”
“You’ve got it wrong!” Jared yelled back, finally losing his control on his own anger. “I used the pool to stop him from murdering you!”
***
“In a different time period I bury you Jensen!” There was nothing but sorrow in Jared that made everyone else flinch. It made Steve look at him just to figure out what all this was truly about. Jared had wanted to tell the truth from the beginning because it needed to be said.
“You died in my arms ten days ago, Jensen. Right after I snapped the son of bitch’s neck I went to you and you didn’t stay alive for more than five minutes. Why did it all happen? So a Gaia Pool wouldn’t collapse!”
The outburst was loud enough to get through to all of them because they all went silent. Jared hadn’t been sure if they actually believed him or thought he was good at creating believable situations. Well, Jared didn’t look closely enough at Steve until his eyes wandered back to him again and realized...The man had been trying to read him because Chris had been unfortunate to end up with the witch that could confirm lies and read emotions.
Steve stepped up to Jensen slowly before he grabbed the other witch’s hand to make sure Jensen would listen. “Jen, he’s telling the truth. I feel it and his grief and all he felt is real. If not I would’ve said blast him in a second.”
Chris’ voice boomed the conversation. “Steve if he was able to time travel and get to the Book of Shadows don’t you think he’d be able to block his emotions”
“No Chris. It’s not likely. You of all people should know Chris.” Steve still remained calm even when Jensen turned and left.
Jared knew that it was evidence Jensen’s couldn’t deny, which is why he walked off.
Jared just wanted so bad to have them get past this whole mess.
“Jared go and get him. Make him understand.” Steve advised with such a wise expression on his face.
“Thank you.” He was grateful that he hadn’t been able to cover how he felt. Not even close.
“Don’t worry about it he’ll come around,” Steve assured.
Chris sighed, “Let’s patch you up boy.”
***
Jensen stared out his bedroom window up at the few stars he could make out in the night sky.
He had left Jared in the care of Chris and Steve to have his cheek patched up and let them rip a strip off him for what had happened. He was just too tired, too confused and still too livid to deal with him.
A part of him wanted to be impressed or awed or feel loved because of what Jared had gone through to save him but he couldn’t. Too many things were wrong in the world because of what Jared had done.
He shut his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest when he heard his bedroom door open.
“Hey.” Jared said softly.
“Go away Jay.” He answered in kind.
He wasn’t surprised when instead of doing what he told him to do; Jared crossed the room and tentatively curled his hands around his hips. “Jensen I couldn’t…you were dead and I couldn’t…”
“Jared, do you realize that because of what you’ve done that we’re now being hunted?” He opened his eyes and stared out into the dark yard. “That because of you, all the pools but mine and Steve’s, have fallen. People are dead or dying because of you.”
“Jen…”
“You killed him Jared. And that would have been the end of it.”
The only warning he got was Jared’s fingers tightening on his hips before he was spun around and pushed up against the window frame.
“You…Were…. Dead” He snarled low in his face. “I failed and you died.”
Jensen grabbed Jared’s biceps and tried to push him away, not really surprised when he didn’t move. “It was my job, my calling, to protect the pool, with my life if need be. I did that according to you. And none of this would have happened!”
“Jensen I couldn’t do this without you.” He whispered, tears slowly sliding down his cheeks.
“Do what?” He forced his voice to remain firm and ignore the need to wipe away the tears.
“Live.” He smiled weakly, “You are my life Jensen. Not Gaia, not the pools, not being a Guardian, just you.”
Jensen sighed, guilt welling because a part of him did appreciate what Jared had done. But the other side of him felt worse because he could understand it, he was pretty sure if the roles were reversed he would have done the same thing, he had spent the last hour accepting that but he should have been told, he should have had a choice.
“Why couldn’t you just warn me?” He finally allowed himself to relax his grip on Jared’s biceps but didn’t let go. “You could have just told me and then helped me to prepare for that nut showing up.”
Jared shook his head, “I don’t know.” He shrugged awkwardly, “I just knew that I couldn’t lose you. And needed to take precautions to make sure I wouldn’t.”
He blew out a breath, “Jared the world is all fucked up now.”
He pulled him against his chest, “So we’ll fight to make it right, together.”
Jensen shut his eyes and breathed in his lover’s scent. He had missed feeling Jared’s arms around him even when he had believed that he had betrayed him. He had missed his warmth, the cadence of his voice, everything.
Standing there, he finally understood exactly why Jared had done it and although he appreciated it, he knew he was going to have to undo it.
***
Jared wrapped his arms around Jensen so tightly so that Jensen’s body was right up against his. His breath was hot and warm on Jensen’s still soft white toned skin. The past ten days had driven Jared completely insane but one could say that was an understatement. Jared realized there had to be some truth to what Jensen had said before. Maybe if he just went to warn Jensen instead of taking everything head on by himself everything else wouldn’t have ended in disaster.
He leaned in to kiss Jensen because he couldn’t refuse to bend down and place a soft kiss on Jen’s beautiful lips. Every time he stared at Jensen he couldn’t be mad at himself for what he had done. Maybe he should have alerted Jensen, so they could have solved this Jeff situation together either way it worked out. Either way Jared got to see Jensen alive once more. He didn’t care about the consequence, not really. If he did he wouldn’t have risked all he possessed.
Jared devoured Jensen in hot sensual kisses that grew deeper the closer Jared got to Jensen. Jared felt alive again with Jensen by his side. Jared knew his love was so strong and it really couldn’t be compared to anything. It was hilarious how easily Jared’s love reminded him of Shakespeare.
“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see. So long lives this and this gives love to thee.” Jared whispered in Jensen’s mouth with his hot breath that sent tremors of pleasure down Jensen’s spine.
They quickly freed themselves of clothing, taking mere minutes to get Jared out of his dirty over sized shirt and Jensen out of his too tight pants.
“Jared,” Jensen gasped as Jared led him down onto the mattress, that Jared couldn’t even believe he was able to find, and gripped tightly to bone and giant muscles. “Make me feel, make me remember the first time.”
Jared smiled as he caressed the contours of his lover’s skin and felt his heart race at the moment of excitement. He got himself prepared before he plunged himself into Jensen’s warm heat and stroked slowly. Jensen’s low growl was encouragement enough.
***
“And where might you be going in the middle of the night?”
Jensen spun around and had to peer through the darkness to just make out Steve sitting in a chair in the corner of the living room.
“Steve.” He hissed and took a deep breath trying to calm the rapid pounding of his heart. “What are you doing up?”
Steve slowly pulled himself to his feet and silently padded past him and into the kitchen.
He shut his eyes in frustration and shook his head before giving up and following after his friend.
“I started suffering from insomnia a few years back. I’ve found that if I don’t wander around too much, Chris will still manage to sleep through most of the night, even without me beside him.” He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head to one side, “I’ve answered your question now answer mine.”
Jensen ran a hand through his hair; he had really been hoping that he could just slip away without having to explain to anyone. It had been his hope that if someone, especially Jared figured out what he was planning that it would be too late to stop him. He should have known that his luck wouldn’t hold, doubting Jared, doubting a Guardian that Gaia sent to protect him was probably worth two life times of bad karma.
“I’ve got to fix this Steve.”
He nodded slowly, “And you’re going to do that how?”
He huffed out a breath, “How do you think?”
“Oh no” He shook his head, once, sharply. “I am not about to give you ideas. Now you can either fess up or I can holler and bring both Guardians down on us.”
Jensen narrowed his eyes, “You wouldn’t.”
“No?” He shot back, “You and I have been friends for a long time Jensen. We were little boys together back in Richardson learning how to use powers that most people think only exist in fantasy. I would think you would know me better than to doubt me.”
“Yeah I do,” he grumbled. “That’s the problem.”
He pulled one of the kitchen chairs out, ensuring to lift it so that the feet wouldn’t make any noise against the tile floor. Silently he sat and motioned for Steve to take the one closest to him.
“Oh this can’t be good.” Steve muttered but did as silently asked and sat down.
“I’m going back to the pool.” He let it out in a whispered rush. “I’m going to set things straight by fixing what Jared messed with.”
He leaned forward, his forearms pressing into the Formica tabletop, the only visible sign that he was upset. “You’re going to stop Jared from saving you.”
“Yeah” The answer wasn’t necessary since it had been an observation, not a question but he thought it needed to be said. “I can stop what’s happening Steve. I should have died and Jared would have killed Jeff because of it. You, Chris, the others,” he threw his hands up in the air. “People we don’t even know, you’d all be where you’re supposed to be. Not running and hiding or dead or having their lives all kinds of fucked up because of this.”
“It won’t matter.” Steve hissed, “Jared will just go back and it’ll start all over again. It’ll become an endless loop for not just you and Jared but the whole fucking world!”
“No.” He shook his head, “I’ve learnt from Jared. I’ll go back farther, put a spell of binding on the pool so that Jared can’t use the spell. It’ll work.”
Steve leaned back in his chair and stared at him silently for a long moment. “You could have gone back before. You could have slipped past the men looking for your pool and gone back but you didn’t.” He held up his hand when Jensen opened his mouth to interrupt him, “You didn’t because you believe as much as I do that it’s not right to mess with time, especially now that we’ve seen what can happen. There are other ways.” He finally said.
“Like what?” Jensen demanded, “Fight in the here and now? My parents would still be dead, as would yours. Innocent people that know nothing of the pools or us or fucking Jeffrey Morgan will still be dead. It’s not worth it.”
“Look we don’t know that your parents or mine have anything to do with this.” He tried.
“Yeah, right” He shot back sarcastically.
“Fine their deaths are part of this but I don’t think you going back would change that. We’ve pretty much already decided that it was Bree that told Jeff where to find them.”
Jensen leaned forward, “But what about everyone else, the others that protected the pools, the Government officials and the police officers?”
Steve crossed his arms over his chest and looked away to stare out into the dark living room.
“Steve you know I’m right.”
His reply was a sharp snort.
“Steve.” He implored softly.
“Yeah” He whispered the word almost too low to hear. He grudgingly turned and glared over at him. “Yeah I know.”
Jensen let out a breath he hadn’t even realized his had been holding. Steve could have called out and woken Jared and Chris and told them everything then it was a guarantee that he would never be let out of anyone’s sight until a very far off future.
“Alright then” He pushed to his feet, ignoring the small, selfish part of him that really wanted Steve to do everything in his power to stop him. But the reality was that he wasn’t supposed to be here. The world wasn’t supposed to be like this. He had accepted his summons to be a protector of one of the Gaia pools and knew that it could mean giving his life up. It was time to prove that he was willing to do exactly what he had sworn to do.
Resolutely he started to walk past Steve, Jared’s keys a heavy weight in his pocket. At the last moment he stopped and laid his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Don’t tell Jared where I went.”
Steve’s response was to drop his head forward and Jensen took it as agreement. He patted him once on the shoulder before taking a deep breath and moving towards the door.
It was time to set things right.
***
Jared smiled widely because he knew right when he reached out across the bed Jensen would be on the other side fast asleep. But when Jared reached out no one was on the other side. Jared sat up so quickly that he popped his back in all the wrong places. Jared pried his eyes wide open as he hoped that maybe Jensen was just trying to surprise him with breakfast or something but the ache said otherwise. Jensen had left Jared. For what, Jared didn’t know. The whole situation seemed so strange. Jared just kept wondering if all that transpired between them was a ploy of some sort. Jared started to push the “what if” from his mind as he shuffled back to the kitchen where a bewildered Steve stood.
For a man who could read truth there was no way he could tell any lies. If his face didn't make it clear enough, the way his hands and body moved to keep busy sure did.
Jared approached the man and knew that Steve simply could not lie without giving himself away. It had been a lose-lose situation.
"Where is he, Steve." Jared spoke with a calm reserve despite the fear he felt within.
"Jared," Steve faltered slightly. "I-can't."
"Look Steve," Jared pointed at the Texan that sat at the kitchen table. "You don't have a choice here, ok."
Steve just stared down, “He going to fix the timeline.”
Jared stepped back. “Oh shit!” He bolted for the door.
***
It had been surprisingly easy slipping past the two guards that Jeffrey Morgan had left on the property and make it to the pool. It was even easier to first lay down the binding spell that would keep Jared from travelling back in time before doing it himself. In fact, in hindsight he should have known that something was coming, that nothing was ever that easy.
He figured it out soon enough when he managed to sneak up on Jared, hiding in the trees near the house and watching a slightly younger version of Jensen pace back and forth on the deck out back of the house. He had kind of lost it for a minute, ducking behind a tree, torn between doing what he had come to do and watching himself from a distance. He wasn’t exactly sure how Jared had managed to keep seeing another version of himself and not feel a strange mix of confusion and fascination, but it was messing with his head.
He shook his head and forced himself to centre his power, he pictured using it to throw Jared against one of the trees but he couldn’t seem to do it. Apparently using magic against his lover only worked when he was so pissed off that he was seriously considering killing him.
Come on Jen, don’t pussy out now. He chided himself darkly and took a deep breath.
He knew it was now or never, it wouldn’t be long before the Jared in front of him made his move and things would get even more risky then they already were.
“Sorry.” He whispered low and jumped when Jared went still before suddenly spinning towards him.
His eyes held a mix of apprehension and confusion. “Jen..?”
Jensen let the power flow through him, watched it lift Jared from the ground and slam him back first into a nearby tree.
Jared’s limp body fell to the ground and remained still.
He glanced back towards the house and sighed in relief when the other him didn’t seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary. Of course he had his memory of that morning; he already knew that nothing had caught his attention until Jared’s footstep on the wood planks of the deck. But that was before Jensen had slipped backwards in time and now he was playing in a field that he was unsure of.
Carefully he stood and picked his way over to where Jared still lay at the base of the tree.
It was disconcerting to see his Guardian lying sprawled, unconscious on the ground and he had to fight back the urge to try and shake him awake. This was for Jared’s benefit, well it was for Jensen’s too, in a completely screwed up way, after all it would be pretty hard to sacrifice himself and keep Jared from rushing in to stop it at the same time.
Carefully he dropped to his knees beside his unconscious lover and took his limp hand in his.
“I understand why you did it and I don’t blame you for trying but I can’t let it happen Jay.” He peered out between the trees and watched himself make another slow circuit of the deck, pretty sure that was at least one more than he had had time to do the first time around.
“I can’t let Jeff win and this is how I can stop it, how we can stop it.” He glanced back down at Jared and pushed a stray clump of hair away from his forehead.
Now that he had gotten this far he could feel the fear that he had been fighting down begin to work through him like poison. Logically he knew what needed to be done but he was still human and his self preservation was screaming at him for just sitting there waiting for death to claim him. He fervently wished that Jared was awake and lending him the strength of his arms just one more time.
“I guess I should have asked you how this all works.” He smiled grimly, “I mean, I guess I’ll just stop being, fade away or some other screwed up shit like that. But I don’t know what will happen to you. I don’t know how you and the you that is up by the cave will become one again. But I know you will. I mean I’m pretty sure there are not two of you running around in the future.”
He let his thumb rub absently against Jared’s knuckles, “I love you and I’ll be waiting in Summerland for you. Just don’t do anything stupid and show up too soon okay?”
“You mean like trying to sacrifice yourself after everything I went through to save you?”
Jensen’s head snapped around and he met the angry and very aware eyes of another Jared. The one he was pretty sure he had left behind in Calli the day before.
“Shit.”
***
Jared stood defiantly as he glared down at his lover. To say that he was pissed was just an understatement because he was beyond pissed. Jared was downright livid. He watched Jensen gently disentangled his hand from the other, unconscious, him before slowly climbing to his feet. "Jay..." he started low.
"No!" He snarled back, "After everything Jensen. After turning my back on my teachings, after fucking up and risking ruining our chance of getting back together years ago because I couldn't not talk to you, touch you, feel your fucking heart beating underneath my hands. Knowing that no matter what happens that I would be disgraced in the eyes of my sect, be hunted by them because of what I did, I still did it because I could not live without you. And you sneak out and do this!" He waved vaguely towards the prone body of the other him. "You..." He shook his head in dismay, his voice faltering.
"Jared." He hissed low, "I'm supposed to be dead. Jeff Morgan is supposed to be dead. Can't you see that what you did was wrong?"
Jared clenched his fists at his sides, it was either that or shake Jensen until his neck threatened to snap in the hopes of making him see that his dying wouldn't solve anything. "I'll just go back again. Don't you get that?"
Jensen shook his head and sighed. "Not this time Jay. I...I took steps to ensure that you can't. It ends here..."
It wasn't a conscious thought, one minute he was staring in disbelief as his lover's words began to filter through the red haze of his anger and then the next minute he had him slammed up against a tree. "What...did...you...do?"
"Jared..."
He pulled him forward slightly before slamming him back again, "What?"
Jensen's eyes darkened and he barred his teeth, "Back off Jay."
He leaned down until they were breathing the same air, "No."
He wrapped his fingers around Jared's wrists and squeezed, "You want him to hear what's going on out here?" He motioned with his chin towards the other Jensen still pacing on the deck. "Because things are about to get real ugly, real quick if you don't let me go."
"What are you going to do Jensen? Throw me around? Knock me out like you did him?” He growled low, “Because that’s about the only way I’ll stop fighting you.” Jared was afraid of the answer to his questions. It didn’t just terrify him, but it struck realization into him right down into the core. Jared went through pain and suffering when he went to bury Jensen. At the most five days, maybe less, Jared wallowed in the misery of all the hopeful memories of every intimate moment that they shared before he decided to break down.
Jared knew that any other timeline and punishment was better than the timeline that involved a pale Jensen with big brown-purplish bruises that were on his wrists, from being tied up, a blood stained shirt and swollen, once vibrant green eyes that closed the moment Jensen’s spirit left.
Jensen flinched at Jared’s words because they were spoken with such intensity. Intensity Jared had felt since the whole thing began.
“Jared,” Jensen spoke softly but it wasn’t any use.
“I can’t let it all happen again Jensen! I won’t go back and have you die in my arms!” Jared exclaimed on the verge of tears. Then, he took a breath and in a steady voice he explained, “I can’t go back and have a future where I don’t get to have the one thing I ever wanted. I won’t go back to a future where my regrets and memories will suffocate me to death. If that’s how this is going to be Jen you should just kill me now.”
Jared stared Jensen down when his lover raised his tired but powerful hand to Jared. In one swift movement that hand could have had him thrown on the other side of the yard paralyzed from the thunder shock but moments passed and Jensen couldn’t harness the will or energy to inflict pain on Jared.
When Jared knew Jensen wouldn’t hurt him he reached out his left palm so it would intertwine with the hand Jensen already had up.
“We can do this together, Jen.” He leaned in to touch his face to Jensen’s. “Two is better than one.”
Jensen looked back at the unconscious body, “we’re going to need a diversion.”
Jared smiled at that before he nodded at Jensen’s suggestion. “Jeff should be here in a little while. I’d say no long than half an hour, fifty minutes at the most.” Jared said. “I know that he had to have been on foot because I wasn’t that far away, so I would have heard if a vehicle drove up.”
“Ok then. If we set up some traps and make sure he walks right into them when he’s going for the other me,” Jensen began.
“Then we’ll have him defenceless.” Jared finished. “Perfect.”
Before long, they had set up a whole line of devices and traps along the yard right near the other Jensen so that way right before Jeff stepped close into Jensen’s space he’d be in a world of pain. He would be rendered defenceless.
The green bushes shifted slightly as they heard the footsteps approach from the rear, the laser was focused on the body on the deck and was unaware of the two others in the back. Jeff seemed to think that he had an enormous amount of luck on his side, but he was dead wrong because he had been hurtled to his doom when he took the last step directly on the binding trap.
“Now” Jared hissed which was a signal for Jensen to blast Jeff with his thunder power as effectively as possible.
Jeff was against a tree, the same one that Jensen had been tied to, with his face contorted in nothing but excruciating pain. The man was obviously afraid to suffer for sins he technically didn’t get to commit in the timeline they were in but what mattered was the principle of it all.
Jared crowded the mad man with his six foot four height that frightened mountain lions. “Well, Jeffy, may I call you Jeffy?” Jared said mockingly with utter sarcasm. “You killed people to get where you are. You did dumb things that led to this downfall.” Jared explained to Jeff and chuckled when the man cringed and turned his head away in anger. Jensen just laid his hand on Jared’s shoulder. It was that gentle reminder that urged him to be careful. “You see Jeffy, in a different timeline you get two Gaia Pools, gunning for a third. Problem is you slipped up and thought that you weren’t going to be hunted instead.”
Jared stared coldly at Jeff with nothing but hatred for the man before him. “This time you’re not getting away. This time I’m doing this the right way.”
In one swift movement, that was too fast for the human eye, Jared’s hands reached around Jeff’s neck and snapped it like a branch. The older man slumped against the tree and soon fell to the ground because Jensen released his hold on Jeff.
“No one mourns the wicked.” Jared said.
Finally, Jared could be at peace.
Epilogue