New Fic: The Luckiest (1/1) - Jared/Jensen
Title: The Luckiest
Author: ms_soma
Rating: Mainly PG13, with a little R chucked in
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Word Count: 4,176
Disclaimer: I don’t own anyone or anything except for an overactive imagination.
Summary: Scenes from the lives of Jensen, Jared, and their kids. Written for the notjustroomates April challenge. Scene 3 is something I wrote for a comment fic, and I guess this little verse comes from this. Title from the beautiful song by Ben Folds.
1.
It was your typical Juno situation. A young, attractive 16 year old girl gets knocked up and decides that while she can’t keep the baby, she can’t go through with an abortion either. She registers with an adoption agency and insists on screening the potential parents for the thing growing inside of her. She doesn’t have many requirements, but she wants to make sure that whoever raises her spawn are loving, open minded, and non judgmental people. She’s giving up the ‘problem’, as her step-mother so lovingly calls it, because she honestly does not believe she’s selfless enough to give it the best life she can.
As soon as she meets them, she knows. There is so much love, so much fondness between them. They’d have plenty to share around and they’d make a gorgeous family.
They leave and she’s kicked hard in the stomach.
“Yeah, yeah. I know,” she mutters, rubbing her belly. “Looks like you’re going to have two daddies.”
2.
Jensen always thought that the happiest day of his life would be the day he slipped a ring on Jared’s finger as they promised each other forever. It was a perfect autumn day in Vancouver; the sun shining, the breeze on the right side of cool, and the leaves just starting to turn. He remembers the butterflies in his stomach, the wide grin he could not get off his face seeing Jared standing opposite him, looking gorgeous in that pin-striped suit. He remembers thinking that the day could not be more perfect.
It’s pouring with rain, the day that Emma comes into the world. Jensen’s feeling the butterflies again, this time with a side of apprehension. He hurries to the hospital as soon as he gets Jared’s excited voice mail that they have a daughter. A daughter. He arrives at her room with a bag of baby clothes and a giant pink teddy bear to the vision of his husband sprawled in a low chair, looking giant with a baby in his arms. Jared’s gaze travels up as Jensen approaches, a look of awe and terror on his face. She’s tiny, probably no more than seven pounds, with a shock of dark hair and a button nose.
Jensen’s in love immediately.
“She’s ours, Jensen,” Jared says in wonder, and Jensen can’t decipher if he says it because he’s amazed that they have a child, or he’s terrified that he’s now a parent. “She’s so helpless. She’s relying on us to do everything for her. My God, Jensen. We’re responsible for her.”
Jensen gives Jared his most reassuring smile and kneels down in front of them. He places a kiss for the first time against her head, then against Jared’s hand.
“You’re going to be the worlds most awesome Dad,” he tells him.
Jared looks down at Jensen and smiles. “Come on, Papa. It’s your turn to hold your daughter.”
Jensen gently gathers her in his arms, carefully supporting her neck like they were shown in parenting class, and gently rocks her while he gets used to the feel of her in his arms.
“She looks like an Emma, doesn’t she,” Jared whispers as he wraps his arms around Jensen from behind, resting his chin on Jensen’s shoulder so he can keep gazing at the baby. At their baby.
It’s this moment, right here, that Jensen has never been happier.
“Emma Louise Padalecki,” Jensen murmurs. “Welcome to the world.”
3.
Jared leans against the doorway to the bathroom, watching through the slight haze of fog from the warmth of the shower as his husband stands naked, rocking gently from side to side, their month-old daughter cuddled against his chest. He's singing softly to her, an old Billy Joel song, and her cries slowly turn to quiet shudders, then to calm.
Jensen is oblivious that Jared is back from work early, only having eyes for Emma, which gives Jared time to stare and bask in the warm feelings curling in his chest.
'My family,' is what he thinks with a sense of pride and unconditional love. He never knew he could have this, that he could feel this range of emotion. When he and Jensen got together all of those years ago, he never thought that they would be able to have this addition to their unit. Never knew that he could love a child so instantly. Never knew that his love for Jensen could multiply like it has over the past month.
Jared steps away from the doorway and Jensen catches the movement.
"Give her here," Jared says, rolling up his sleeves and reaching into the water, his giant hands dwarfing their sleeping daughter, carefully cradling her neck and bottom. Jared leans over to kiss Jensen hello, then drops a kiss on Emma's head. "Daddy missed you."
"She threw up all over my chest and hers. I thought it would be easier just to rinse us both off in here," Jensen explains, reaching for the soap as he watches Jared swaddle the still peacefully sleeping Emma in a towel. "I think she's allergic to the new formula."
Jared nods and makes a mental note to head out to the store after dinner to buy the formula she had at the hospital. For now, he cradles his daughter in his arms while watching the water run down his husband's back, and wonders what he did right in his life to get so lucky.
4.
“She’ll be going to school soon,” Jensen whispers to Jared as he dries the dishes his husband is washing. He looks over toward Emma, sitting at the table, her tongue sticking out in concentration as she colors, a trait picked up from her dad.
“She’s growing up fast,” Jared agrees. “She’ll be sneaking out and getting drunk behind our backs in no time.”
Jensen scoffs as he observes their daughter. The way her blue eyes sparkle, her soft brown hair curling around her ears, her cute little button nose. “How can you say that? Look at that angelic face.”
“Maybe it’s time you went back to work and I stayed home to look after her. That little girl has you wrapped around her finger.” Jared grins.
It has been a few years since Jensen worked instead of Jared. Jared has a role, a great role, in an HBO drama. And he’s good in it, damned good, and Jensen doesn’t want him to give that up anytime soon just so he can go back to work. Besides, Jensen was still studying to get a better feel for the technicalities of what goes on behind the scenes, hoping to be able to do just that when Emma does go to school.
And really, raising Emma was the most fulfilling job Jensen has ever had. He loves watching her grow and evolve. The look on Jared’s face the first time she said “Dad” melted his heart, and he was overjoyed that they both were able to witness her first steps. He loves that she copies Jared, and gives him the puppy eyes when he doesn’t want to take her to the park.
“Have you ever thought of maybe having another?” Jensen asks without really thinking about it.
“All the time,” Jared confesses, his voice going soft. “You?”
“Not a lot,” Jensen says absently. “But sometimes, sometimes I think Emma would make an awesome big sister.”
Dishes done, Jared pulls the plug out of the sink and takes the towel from Jensen’s hands so he would look at him rather than the plates.
“What are you trying to say, Jensen?” Jared asks.
Jensen’s brow furrows a little, and he gazes at the floor, collecting his thoughts, before he looks up at Jared.
“We’re good parents, right?” he asks.
“We’re doing okay,” Jared nods, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Jensen, are you saying -“
“Yeah,” he nods, as if he’s just realizing himself. “I am. I want to.”
Jared’s smile is a mile wide, and he picks Jensen up off the floor and kisses him.
“Get a room.”
They hear a small voice say from behind them, and they turn around to glare at Emma in shock.
“What?” she says from the looks on their faces. “Aunt Megan says it all the time!”
5.
“Seriously?” Jensen questions.
“For the fifth time, yes,” Jared responds, exasperation clipping his words.
“This really sounds like some sort of joke.”
“Jensen, he is nine months old and his Mom just died of an overdose,” Jared reminds him. “He needs a home and Emma wants a little brother.”
“Can we change his name?” Jensen asks.
“Jensen,” Jared says sternly and tries to breathe through his frustration. He knows Jensen wants this child as much as he does. He knows he wants to give him the best life that they can, to make up for the horrible start he’s had. “It’s his name. He responds to it.”
“Dude, I can’t have a kid called Brady.”
Jared sighs and gathers up his keys. “I’m going to go and take Emma for some ice cream. When we get back, you need to be over this. Days of Our Lives was fifteen years ago, man. Get over it.”
An hour later, Emma runs through the door with a tub of double chocolate fudge in her hands and pink ice cream around her mouth.
“Daddy says you can have some if you’re being good,” she tells him earnestly.
Jensen looks up at Jared and grins. “Brady Padalecki. Has a pretty good ring to it, right?”
Jared smiles and leans down to kiss him. “You can be such a douchebag sometimes.”
6.
“Papa,” Emma starts one day. Brady’s down for his nap and Jensen’s fixing her an after school snack while she does her homework. Jensen doesn’t remember getting homework in the second grade when he was in school, but then again, it was thirty years ago.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Are we a family?”
Jensen’s brow furrows, perplexed as to why she would ask that. “Of course we are. Me, your dad, you and Brady -“
“Then why do we have different last names?” Emma asks speculatively, chewing on the end of her pencil. “Why are me and Brady and Daddy all Padalecki, and you’re Ackles?”
Jensen stops spreading peanut butter on the bread, trying to think of the right way to phrase it. How does he tell his kid that he didn’t want them to have to learn a double-barreled surname? That he likes the fact that his kids have his husband’s last name?
“Your Daddy and I didn’t change our names when we got married. But that doesn’t mean we’re not a family.”
“Amelia’s Mom has a different last name, and she doesn’t live with them anymore,” Emma says softly.
Jensen’s face softens, and he picks up the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and glass of milk and takes them over to Emma.
“Your Daddy and I aren’t getting a divorce. We love each other very much, and we love you kids. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have the same name, that doesn’t stop us from being a family, okay?” Jensen asks, dropping a kiss against her head. “What matters is that we all love each other and want to be together.”
“Okay,” Emma says, taking a bite of her sandwich, seemingly reassured.
Later that evening, when Jared gets home from filming, Jensen tells him, “I’m thinking of changing my last name to Padalecki. Is that alright with you?”
Jared looks confused, amused, and exhausted at the same time. He slumps onto the couch next to Jensen and picks up his hand, entwining their fingers. “I think I could handle that.”
7.
Jared’s lips travel along Jensen’s collarbone, nipping and sucking at the soft skin. He feels Jensen writhing under him, pushing his hips up trying to get closer, trying to create friction.
“No way baby, you’re letting me go slow tonight,” Jared informs him, his voice deep with want.
“You’re fucking killing me,” Jensen pants as Jared takes a nipple into his mouth, his fingers traveling tantalizingly up Jensen’s thigh.
It feels as if they haven’t had sex in months, years. It has probably only been two weeks since the last time, but between Brady’s erratic sleep patterns and Jared’s work schedule, they’d barely had any alone time at all. But for the next three months Jared was on hiatus, and he was going to make up for everything he’s missed out on. With both the kids and Jensen. Starting right now.
“God, yes,” Jensen murmurs as Jared’s lips blaze a path to his hipbone, laving at the strip of skin where his hips connect to his legs. And God, this was intoxicating, having Jensen under him like this, responsive to every touch. It’s nice to know that twelve years and two kids has done nothing to kill the passion they still felt for each other. Jared licks a stripe up his dick and Jensen groans appreciatively before they’re interrupted.
“DADDY!”
“Christ,” Jared exclaims sitting up, Emma’s cries for her father still resonating down the hall.
“Fucking timing,” Jensen mutters under his breath while Jared scrambles out of bed, slipping his boxers on and grabbing a robe. “Come back here.”
“Got to see what’s spooked Emma before she wakes Brady,” Jared tells him, leaving a hard bruising kiss on his lips and willing his hard on down.
Walking towards Emma’s room, he listens outside Brady’s door as he passes and can’t hear him stirring. Not a surprise, the kid sleeps like the dead. He pushes Emma’s door the rest of the way open and sees her sitting up in bed, tears streaming down her face.
“Emma, what’s wrong?” Jared asks, putting an arm around her and cradling her head to his chest.
“I had a bad dream,” she sobs. “A monster came out of my closet and grabbed me.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Jared dropped a soft kiss on her head. “You know that monsters aren’t real.”
“But it looked real. Like a man but with scales like a fish!” Emma insists, lip quivering.
“Well, lucky for you, your parents used to be professional monster killers,” Jared tells her, smiling.
“That was just a TV show, Daddy.”
“But still, we had to do a lot of research about how to destroy monsters, if monsters exist. Which they don’t,” Jared kisses her forehead and gets up, makes his way to her closet. He can see the fear in her eyes as he gets closer, and feels a pang of pride at how brave she is to be watching him check.
“What are you doing?” she asks softly.
“I’m going to make sure there are definitely no monsters, and then I’m going to do a spell to make sure none can ever get in here. Okay?”
“Okay.” Emma burrows under her comforter a little as Jared opens the door.
He makes a show of making sure there is nothing hiding in the closet, and then mumbles an incantation that vaguely sounds like something he had to deliver on Supernatural.
“That should do it,” he announces, tucking Emma back into bed. “Do you think you can sleep now?”
Emma nods and grabs his hand. “Can you stay until I fall asleep?”
Jared casts a look towards the hallway, in the direction of his bedroom where Jensen is lying waiting for him. But one glimpse into the big wet eyes of the little girl clutching his hand, and he knows where he needs to be right now.
“Sure thing, honey,” he says softly. “Close your eyes. Daddy’s here.”
8.
“Daddy, Brady’s not feeling very well,” Emma says on the way home from picking them up from school.
When he’d collected Brady from pre-school he felt warm and had clung to Jared in a way that he hadn’t since the first week of his attendance. Jared glances in the rearview mirror to take another look at his son. He looks tired and a little pale.
“That right, buddy? Do you feel sick?” He asks, turning around to look at him when they stop at a red light, seeing how glassy his brown eyes are.
“Just a little bit,” Brady murmurs. “Will we be home soon?”
“About five more minutes, kiddo,” Jared assures him, stepping on the gas. He really doesn’t want to clean puke out of their car.
Luckily, they make it through the front door before Brady throws up everywhere. Jared wants to high-five himself for successfully managing to repress his sympathetic-vomiting reflex.
“Gross,” Emma says, running out of the hallway while Brady stands surrounded by his own puke and cries.
“Come on, buddy, come here.” Jared sweeps him up in his arms and carries him to the bathroom, sitting him on the counter.
“Papa,” Brady pleads through his tears as Jared strips his soiled shirt off. Jensen’s always been there when the kids have been sick, getting them and the house cleaned up. Since he’s gone back to work and Jared’s the one staying home with the kids, he figures he’s owed a few illnesses.
“He’s at work, Brady. He’ll be home just after dinner though, he can give you a big hug then,” Jared tries to reassure him, wiping a wet towel over his face and chest.
“Here, Daddy,” Emma walks into the bathroom with a fresh pair of Brady’s pajamas. “They’re his favorite ones.”
Jared smiles at his daughter’s concern and dresses Brady in them. He feels his forehead and is a little worried at how warm he is.
“How about we get you some water and put you to bed?” Jared suggests, picking him up and carrying him to the kitchen, Emma on their heels.
“Papa’s drink,” Brady says tiredly.
“What’s Papa’s drink?” Jared asks Brady, sitting him on the kitchen bench and grabbing a plastic cup from the cupboard. He looks confused at Brady’s plea of not that one, and is saved by his daughter, who is watching by the fridge, rolling her eyes.
“You’re doing it all wrong, Daddy,” Emma informs him. “You need to get his cup with the straw, the green one.”
“This one?”
“Yeah, and you need to get the drink that Papa gives us when our tummies are upset. He hides it up the top of the cupboard.”
“Papa hides drinks?” he asks, rummaging up the top of the pantry. Sure enough, there’s a bottle of Canada Dry up there.
“He said that if you knew we had some you’d drink it with your scotch. And we need it for when we’re sick.”
Way to make our kids think I’m an alcoholic Jared thinks as he pours it into Brady’s cup. But then again, maybe Jensen is onto something, because Brady’s sipping on the straw eagerly, and just the other night Jared was looking for something to go with his scotch.
“So what now, nurse Emma? Do we put Brady to bed?” Jared asks. “Is that what Papa does?”
“Nope,” she shakes her head. “We get his pillow and blanket and make him lie down on the couch and let him watch whatever he wants.”
Jared runs to get Brady’s bedding (and a bucket and towel, just in case) while the kids choose a DVD. Once Brady’s lying on the couch, he starts asking for Jensen again, so Jared grabs the phone and dials his cell. He picks up on the fourth ring and hands the phone to their son, who tells him he was sick in the hallway and nods at what his Papa is saying.
Jared takes the phone back and turns on 101 Dalmatians before stepping into the kitchen to talk to Jensen.
“So apparently I fail at looking after them when they’re sick,” Jared tells him with a smile. “If Emma could have rolled her eyes at me any harder they’d be stuck.”
Jensen laughs. “We’ve got a few years of routine up our sleeves. How is Brady, though? Is he hot?”
“A little. I’ll give him some children’s aspirin when I’m convinced he’s done with the puking.”
“Wipe a wet washer over his forehead too, he likes that.”
“Okay. I’m out of practice with this stuff.”
“I’m sure you’re doing brilliantly.”
“Well, I’m no Papa. I don’t have any magical elixir hiding at the top of the pantry or anything,” Jared says wryly.
Jensen huffs out another laugh. “You found the stash then? I had to let Emma in on the secret just in case someone needed it when I wasn’t around.”
“God, I’ve still got to clean up the mess near the front door,” Jared groans.
“Try and do that without creating another mess,” Jensen advises, knowing all too well how bad Jared was around puke. “Seriously, do you need me to come home early?”
“No, we’re okay. Just, make sure you’re not too late. You’ve been working a lot and the kids really miss you.”
“Just the kids?”
“Whatever, egomaniac. We’ll see you soon,” Jared says.
“I love you too,” Jensen replies before hanging up.
9.
“Our kids love us, right?” Jared asks when they’re half an hour into their journey to Galveston.
“You’re asking because of how much they wanted us to leave your parents house?” Jensen asks, concentrating on the road.
“It’s like they couldn’t wait to get rid of us.”
“They get to spend three nights being spoiled by their Grandma and Grandpa in San Antonio. And you know how much they adore their grandparents,” Jensen reminds him.
“It makes me feel selfish sometimes, for living out in Los Angeles for our careers while the rest of their family is in Texas.”
“The kids love it in California. By next week they’ll be begging to go back to their friends.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Jared says, settling in his seat and resting a hand on Jensen’s thigh.
Their hotel in Galveston is quiet and private, and they spend the evening on the balcony overlooking the water, sharing a few beers. Emma and Brady call at eight o’clock to talk about their day and say goodnight, and Jensen finds himself missing tucking them in and reading a story.
“I miss them too,” Jared tells him when they hang up, picking up on his mood.
“We’ve got a great family,” Jensen says simply, grabbing Jared’s hand and giving him a heated look. “But I think it’s time we took advantage of having this place to ourselves.
“No interruptions from nightmares, no one needing a glass of water.” Jared smiles, standing up and pulling Jensen up with him, against him.
“No little ears down the hall in danger of being able to hear every filthy thing I want to do to you,” Jensen adds, leaning forward and kissing Jared’s neck
“No one potentially walking in on us fooling around,” Jared agrees, his hands reaching down to grab Jensen’s ass.
“We are going to have the dirtiest, loudest sex like we haven’t had in years,” Jensen promises, nipping at the skin of his neck and lifting his shirt up. “Then, we’re going to sleep until noon.”
“I love it when you talk sexy, baby,” Jared grins, dragging him inside and onto the bed.
10.
It’s a typical Californian spring Sunday morning. The air is crisp and the sun is out, and Jensen sits on the deck in their backyard, sipping his coffee and reading the paper while his family plays soccer.
Brady’s got good hand-eye coordination, and although he’s only six, Jensen can tell that he’s going to be good. Emma, at ten, has still got a few inches of height on him, and is quick enough on her feet that she often manages to kick the ball out from under Brady.
Jensen’s watching them trying to tackle the ball from each other before Jared comes into play and steals it from them. “Daddy!” Brady cries and the kids chase after him, grabbing onto his legs and trying to kick the ball away from him. Jared eventually relents, pretending to lose control of it so Emma can steal it back.
“Oh no you don’t!” Jared exclaims, and picks up each kid with one arm so that they’re off the ground, legs swinging in mid air, and kicks the ball towards their makeshift goal.
“Papa!” Emma cries. “Daddy’s cheating again.”
Jensen puts down his coffee and looks at his daughter in mock exasperation. “Again? That’s it, I think it’s time we taught your daddy a lesson.”
The three of them gang up on Jared, and at one point Jensen tackles him to the ground so Brady can kick a goal unobstructed.
“You play dirty, Padalecki.” Jared grins.
“You should see me in the bedroom,” Jensen replies quietly, smirking.
Jared leans up and gives him a hard and fast kiss before Emma pulls them both off the ground.
“Let’s play teams!” she suggests, grabbing Jensen’s hand. “Me and Papa against Daddy and Brady.”
As he’s running around on the grass with his family, laughing and tackling and sharing a fond smile with Jared, he can’t help but think that life doesn’t get better than this.
FIN.
Now with a timestamp Grow Fonder
Author: ms_soma
Rating: Mainly PG13, with a little R chucked in
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Word Count: 4,176
Disclaimer: I don’t own anyone or anything except for an overactive imagination.
Summary: Scenes from the lives of Jensen, Jared, and their kids. Written for the notjustroomates April challenge. Scene 3 is something I wrote for a comment fic, and I guess this little verse comes from this. Title from the beautiful song by Ben Folds.
1.
It was your typical Juno situation. A young, attractive 16 year old girl gets knocked up and decides that while she can’t keep the baby, she can’t go through with an abortion either. She registers with an adoption agency and insists on screening the potential parents for the thing growing inside of her. She doesn’t have many requirements, but she wants to make sure that whoever raises her spawn are loving, open minded, and non judgmental people. She’s giving up the ‘problem’, as her step-mother so lovingly calls it, because she honestly does not believe she’s selfless enough to give it the best life she can.
As soon as she meets them, she knows. There is so much love, so much fondness between them. They’d have plenty to share around and they’d make a gorgeous family.
They leave and she’s kicked hard in the stomach.
“Yeah, yeah. I know,” she mutters, rubbing her belly. “Looks like you’re going to have two daddies.”
2.
Jensen always thought that the happiest day of his life would be the day he slipped a ring on Jared’s finger as they promised each other forever. It was a perfect autumn day in Vancouver; the sun shining, the breeze on the right side of cool, and the leaves just starting to turn. He remembers the butterflies in his stomach, the wide grin he could not get off his face seeing Jared standing opposite him, looking gorgeous in that pin-striped suit. He remembers thinking that the day could not be more perfect.
It’s pouring with rain, the day that Emma comes into the world. Jensen’s feeling the butterflies again, this time with a side of apprehension. He hurries to the hospital as soon as he gets Jared’s excited voice mail that they have a daughter. A daughter. He arrives at her room with a bag of baby clothes and a giant pink teddy bear to the vision of his husband sprawled in a low chair, looking giant with a baby in his arms. Jared’s gaze travels up as Jensen approaches, a look of awe and terror on his face. She’s tiny, probably no more than seven pounds, with a shock of dark hair and a button nose.
Jensen’s in love immediately.
“She’s ours, Jensen,” Jared says in wonder, and Jensen can’t decipher if he says it because he’s amazed that they have a child, or he’s terrified that he’s now a parent. “She’s so helpless. She’s relying on us to do everything for her. My God, Jensen. We’re responsible for her.”
Jensen gives Jared his most reassuring smile and kneels down in front of them. He places a kiss for the first time against her head, then against Jared’s hand.
“You’re going to be the worlds most awesome Dad,” he tells him.
Jared looks down at Jensen and smiles. “Come on, Papa. It’s your turn to hold your daughter.”
Jensen gently gathers her in his arms, carefully supporting her neck like they were shown in parenting class, and gently rocks her while he gets used to the feel of her in his arms.
“She looks like an Emma, doesn’t she,” Jared whispers as he wraps his arms around Jensen from behind, resting his chin on Jensen’s shoulder so he can keep gazing at the baby. At their baby.
It’s this moment, right here, that Jensen has never been happier.
“Emma Louise Padalecki,” Jensen murmurs. “Welcome to the world.”
3.
Jared leans against the doorway to the bathroom, watching through the slight haze of fog from the warmth of the shower as his husband stands naked, rocking gently from side to side, their month-old daughter cuddled against his chest. He's singing softly to her, an old Billy Joel song, and her cries slowly turn to quiet shudders, then to calm.
Jensen is oblivious that Jared is back from work early, only having eyes for Emma, which gives Jared time to stare and bask in the warm feelings curling in his chest.
'My family,' is what he thinks with a sense of pride and unconditional love. He never knew he could have this, that he could feel this range of emotion. When he and Jensen got together all of those years ago, he never thought that they would be able to have this addition to their unit. Never knew that he could love a child so instantly. Never knew that his love for Jensen could multiply like it has over the past month.
Jared steps away from the doorway and Jensen catches the movement.
"Give her here," Jared says, rolling up his sleeves and reaching into the water, his giant hands dwarfing their sleeping daughter, carefully cradling her neck and bottom. Jared leans over to kiss Jensen hello, then drops a kiss on Emma's head. "Daddy missed you."
"She threw up all over my chest and hers. I thought it would be easier just to rinse us both off in here," Jensen explains, reaching for the soap as he watches Jared swaddle the still peacefully sleeping Emma in a towel. "I think she's allergic to the new formula."
Jared nods and makes a mental note to head out to the store after dinner to buy the formula she had at the hospital. For now, he cradles his daughter in his arms while watching the water run down his husband's back, and wonders what he did right in his life to get so lucky.
4.
“She’ll be going to school soon,” Jensen whispers to Jared as he dries the dishes his husband is washing. He looks over toward Emma, sitting at the table, her tongue sticking out in concentration as she colors, a trait picked up from her dad.
“She’s growing up fast,” Jared agrees. “She’ll be sneaking out and getting drunk behind our backs in no time.”
Jensen scoffs as he observes their daughter. The way her blue eyes sparkle, her soft brown hair curling around her ears, her cute little button nose. “How can you say that? Look at that angelic face.”
“Maybe it’s time you went back to work and I stayed home to look after her. That little girl has you wrapped around her finger.” Jared grins.
It has been a few years since Jensen worked instead of Jared. Jared has a role, a great role, in an HBO drama. And he’s good in it, damned good, and Jensen doesn’t want him to give that up anytime soon just so he can go back to work. Besides, Jensen was still studying to get a better feel for the technicalities of what goes on behind the scenes, hoping to be able to do just that when Emma does go to school.
And really, raising Emma was the most fulfilling job Jensen has ever had. He loves watching her grow and evolve. The look on Jared’s face the first time she said “Dad” melted his heart, and he was overjoyed that they both were able to witness her first steps. He loves that she copies Jared, and gives him the puppy eyes when he doesn’t want to take her to the park.
“Have you ever thought of maybe having another?” Jensen asks without really thinking about it.
“All the time,” Jared confesses, his voice going soft. “You?”
“Not a lot,” Jensen says absently. “But sometimes, sometimes I think Emma would make an awesome big sister.”
Dishes done, Jared pulls the plug out of the sink and takes the towel from Jensen’s hands so he would look at him rather than the plates.
“What are you trying to say, Jensen?” Jared asks.
Jensen’s brow furrows a little, and he gazes at the floor, collecting his thoughts, before he looks up at Jared.
“We’re good parents, right?” he asks.
“We’re doing okay,” Jared nods, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Jensen, are you saying -“
“Yeah,” he nods, as if he’s just realizing himself. “I am. I want to.”
Jared’s smile is a mile wide, and he picks Jensen up off the floor and kisses him.
“Get a room.”
They hear a small voice say from behind them, and they turn around to glare at Emma in shock.
“What?” she says from the looks on their faces. “Aunt Megan says it all the time!”
5.
“Seriously?” Jensen questions.
“For the fifth time, yes,” Jared responds, exasperation clipping his words.
“This really sounds like some sort of joke.”
“Jensen, he is nine months old and his Mom just died of an overdose,” Jared reminds him. “He needs a home and Emma wants a little brother.”
“Can we change his name?” Jensen asks.
“Jensen,” Jared says sternly and tries to breathe through his frustration. He knows Jensen wants this child as much as he does. He knows he wants to give him the best life that they can, to make up for the horrible start he’s had. “It’s his name. He responds to it.”
“Dude, I can’t have a kid called Brady.”
Jared sighs and gathers up his keys. “I’m going to go and take Emma for some ice cream. When we get back, you need to be over this. Days of Our Lives was fifteen years ago, man. Get over it.”
An hour later, Emma runs through the door with a tub of double chocolate fudge in her hands and pink ice cream around her mouth.
“Daddy says you can have some if you’re being good,” she tells him earnestly.
Jensen looks up at Jared and grins. “Brady Padalecki. Has a pretty good ring to it, right?”
Jared smiles and leans down to kiss him. “You can be such a douchebag sometimes.”
6.
“Papa,” Emma starts one day. Brady’s down for his nap and Jensen’s fixing her an after school snack while she does her homework. Jensen doesn’t remember getting homework in the second grade when he was in school, but then again, it was thirty years ago.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Are we a family?”
Jensen’s brow furrows, perplexed as to why she would ask that. “Of course we are. Me, your dad, you and Brady -“
“Then why do we have different last names?” Emma asks speculatively, chewing on the end of her pencil. “Why are me and Brady and Daddy all Padalecki, and you’re Ackles?”
Jensen stops spreading peanut butter on the bread, trying to think of the right way to phrase it. How does he tell his kid that he didn’t want them to have to learn a double-barreled surname? That he likes the fact that his kids have his husband’s last name?
“Your Daddy and I didn’t change our names when we got married. But that doesn’t mean we’re not a family.”
“Amelia’s Mom has a different last name, and she doesn’t live with them anymore,” Emma says softly.
Jensen’s face softens, and he picks up the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and glass of milk and takes them over to Emma.
“Your Daddy and I aren’t getting a divorce. We love each other very much, and we love you kids. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have the same name, that doesn’t stop us from being a family, okay?” Jensen asks, dropping a kiss against her head. “What matters is that we all love each other and want to be together.”
“Okay,” Emma says, taking a bite of her sandwich, seemingly reassured.
Later that evening, when Jared gets home from filming, Jensen tells him, “I’m thinking of changing my last name to Padalecki. Is that alright with you?”
Jared looks confused, amused, and exhausted at the same time. He slumps onto the couch next to Jensen and picks up his hand, entwining their fingers. “I think I could handle that.”
7.
Jared’s lips travel along Jensen’s collarbone, nipping and sucking at the soft skin. He feels Jensen writhing under him, pushing his hips up trying to get closer, trying to create friction.
“No way baby, you’re letting me go slow tonight,” Jared informs him, his voice deep with want.
“You’re fucking killing me,” Jensen pants as Jared takes a nipple into his mouth, his fingers traveling tantalizingly up Jensen’s thigh.
It feels as if they haven’t had sex in months, years. It has probably only been two weeks since the last time, but between Brady’s erratic sleep patterns and Jared’s work schedule, they’d barely had any alone time at all. But for the next three months Jared was on hiatus, and he was going to make up for everything he’s missed out on. With both the kids and Jensen. Starting right now.
“God, yes,” Jensen murmurs as Jared’s lips blaze a path to his hipbone, laving at the strip of skin where his hips connect to his legs. And God, this was intoxicating, having Jensen under him like this, responsive to every touch. It’s nice to know that twelve years and two kids has done nothing to kill the passion they still felt for each other. Jared licks a stripe up his dick and Jensen groans appreciatively before they’re interrupted.
“DADDY!”
“Christ,” Jared exclaims sitting up, Emma’s cries for her father still resonating down the hall.
“Fucking timing,” Jensen mutters under his breath while Jared scrambles out of bed, slipping his boxers on and grabbing a robe. “Come back here.”
“Got to see what’s spooked Emma before she wakes Brady,” Jared tells him, leaving a hard bruising kiss on his lips and willing his hard on down.
Walking towards Emma’s room, he listens outside Brady’s door as he passes and can’t hear him stirring. Not a surprise, the kid sleeps like the dead. He pushes Emma’s door the rest of the way open and sees her sitting up in bed, tears streaming down her face.
“Emma, what’s wrong?” Jared asks, putting an arm around her and cradling her head to his chest.
“I had a bad dream,” she sobs. “A monster came out of my closet and grabbed me.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Jared dropped a soft kiss on her head. “You know that monsters aren’t real.”
“But it looked real. Like a man but with scales like a fish!” Emma insists, lip quivering.
“Well, lucky for you, your parents used to be professional monster killers,” Jared tells her, smiling.
“That was just a TV show, Daddy.”
“But still, we had to do a lot of research about how to destroy monsters, if monsters exist. Which they don’t,” Jared kisses her forehead and gets up, makes his way to her closet. He can see the fear in her eyes as he gets closer, and feels a pang of pride at how brave she is to be watching him check.
“What are you doing?” she asks softly.
“I’m going to make sure there are definitely no monsters, and then I’m going to do a spell to make sure none can ever get in here. Okay?”
“Okay.” Emma burrows under her comforter a little as Jared opens the door.
He makes a show of making sure there is nothing hiding in the closet, and then mumbles an incantation that vaguely sounds like something he had to deliver on Supernatural.
“That should do it,” he announces, tucking Emma back into bed. “Do you think you can sleep now?”
Emma nods and grabs his hand. “Can you stay until I fall asleep?”
Jared casts a look towards the hallway, in the direction of his bedroom where Jensen is lying waiting for him. But one glimpse into the big wet eyes of the little girl clutching his hand, and he knows where he needs to be right now.
“Sure thing, honey,” he says softly. “Close your eyes. Daddy’s here.”
8.
“Daddy, Brady’s not feeling very well,” Emma says on the way home from picking them up from school.
When he’d collected Brady from pre-school he felt warm and had clung to Jared in a way that he hadn’t since the first week of his attendance. Jared glances in the rearview mirror to take another look at his son. He looks tired and a little pale.
“That right, buddy? Do you feel sick?” He asks, turning around to look at him when they stop at a red light, seeing how glassy his brown eyes are.
“Just a little bit,” Brady murmurs. “Will we be home soon?”
“About five more minutes, kiddo,” Jared assures him, stepping on the gas. He really doesn’t want to clean puke out of their car.
Luckily, they make it through the front door before Brady throws up everywhere. Jared wants to high-five himself for successfully managing to repress his sympathetic-vomiting reflex.
“Gross,” Emma says, running out of the hallway while Brady stands surrounded by his own puke and cries.
“Come on, buddy, come here.” Jared sweeps him up in his arms and carries him to the bathroom, sitting him on the counter.
“Papa,” Brady pleads through his tears as Jared strips his soiled shirt off. Jensen’s always been there when the kids have been sick, getting them and the house cleaned up. Since he’s gone back to work and Jared’s the one staying home with the kids, he figures he’s owed a few illnesses.
“He’s at work, Brady. He’ll be home just after dinner though, he can give you a big hug then,” Jared tries to reassure him, wiping a wet towel over his face and chest.
“Here, Daddy,” Emma walks into the bathroom with a fresh pair of Brady’s pajamas. “They’re his favorite ones.”
Jared smiles at his daughter’s concern and dresses Brady in them. He feels his forehead and is a little worried at how warm he is.
“How about we get you some water and put you to bed?” Jared suggests, picking him up and carrying him to the kitchen, Emma on their heels.
“Papa’s drink,” Brady says tiredly.
“What’s Papa’s drink?” Jared asks Brady, sitting him on the kitchen bench and grabbing a plastic cup from the cupboard. He looks confused at Brady’s plea of not that one, and is saved by his daughter, who is watching by the fridge, rolling her eyes.
“You’re doing it all wrong, Daddy,” Emma informs him. “You need to get his cup with the straw, the green one.”
“This one?”
“Yeah, and you need to get the drink that Papa gives us when our tummies are upset. He hides it up the top of the cupboard.”
“Papa hides drinks?” he asks, rummaging up the top of the pantry. Sure enough, there’s a bottle of Canada Dry up there.
“He said that if you knew we had some you’d drink it with your scotch. And we need it for when we’re sick.”
Way to make our kids think I’m an alcoholic Jared thinks as he pours it into Brady’s cup. But then again, maybe Jensen is onto something, because Brady’s sipping on the straw eagerly, and just the other night Jared was looking for something to go with his scotch.
“So what now, nurse Emma? Do we put Brady to bed?” Jared asks. “Is that what Papa does?”
“Nope,” she shakes her head. “We get his pillow and blanket and make him lie down on the couch and let him watch whatever he wants.”
Jared runs to get Brady’s bedding (and a bucket and towel, just in case) while the kids choose a DVD. Once Brady’s lying on the couch, he starts asking for Jensen again, so Jared grabs the phone and dials his cell. He picks up on the fourth ring and hands the phone to their son, who tells him he was sick in the hallway and nods at what his Papa is saying.
Jared takes the phone back and turns on 101 Dalmatians before stepping into the kitchen to talk to Jensen.
“So apparently I fail at looking after them when they’re sick,” Jared tells him with a smile. “If Emma could have rolled her eyes at me any harder they’d be stuck.”
Jensen laughs. “We’ve got a few years of routine up our sleeves. How is Brady, though? Is he hot?”
“A little. I’ll give him some children’s aspirin when I’m convinced he’s done with the puking.”
“Wipe a wet washer over his forehead too, he likes that.”
“Okay. I’m out of practice with this stuff.”
“I’m sure you’re doing brilliantly.”
“Well, I’m no Papa. I don’t have any magical elixir hiding at the top of the pantry or anything,” Jared says wryly.
Jensen huffs out another laugh. “You found the stash then? I had to let Emma in on the secret just in case someone needed it when I wasn’t around.”
“God, I’ve still got to clean up the mess near the front door,” Jared groans.
“Try and do that without creating another mess,” Jensen advises, knowing all too well how bad Jared was around puke. “Seriously, do you need me to come home early?”
“No, we’re okay. Just, make sure you’re not too late. You’ve been working a lot and the kids really miss you.”
“Just the kids?”
“Whatever, egomaniac. We’ll see you soon,” Jared says.
“I love you too,” Jensen replies before hanging up.
9.
“Our kids love us, right?” Jared asks when they’re half an hour into their journey to Galveston.
“You’re asking because of how much they wanted us to leave your parents house?” Jensen asks, concentrating on the road.
“It’s like they couldn’t wait to get rid of us.”
“They get to spend three nights being spoiled by their Grandma and Grandpa in San Antonio. And you know how much they adore their grandparents,” Jensen reminds him.
“It makes me feel selfish sometimes, for living out in Los Angeles for our careers while the rest of their family is in Texas.”
“The kids love it in California. By next week they’ll be begging to go back to their friends.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Jared says, settling in his seat and resting a hand on Jensen’s thigh.
Their hotel in Galveston is quiet and private, and they spend the evening on the balcony overlooking the water, sharing a few beers. Emma and Brady call at eight o’clock to talk about their day and say goodnight, and Jensen finds himself missing tucking them in and reading a story.
“I miss them too,” Jared tells him when they hang up, picking up on his mood.
“We’ve got a great family,” Jensen says simply, grabbing Jared’s hand and giving him a heated look. “But I think it’s time we took advantage of having this place to ourselves.
“No interruptions from nightmares, no one needing a glass of water.” Jared smiles, standing up and pulling Jensen up with him, against him.
“No little ears down the hall in danger of being able to hear every filthy thing I want to do to you,” Jensen adds, leaning forward and kissing Jared’s neck
“No one potentially walking in on us fooling around,” Jared agrees, his hands reaching down to grab Jensen’s ass.
“We are going to have the dirtiest, loudest sex like we haven’t had in years,” Jensen promises, nipping at the skin of his neck and lifting his shirt up. “Then, we’re going to sleep until noon.”
“I love it when you talk sexy, baby,” Jared grins, dragging him inside and onto the bed.
10.
It’s a typical Californian spring Sunday morning. The air is crisp and the sun is out, and Jensen sits on the deck in their backyard, sipping his coffee and reading the paper while his family plays soccer.
Brady’s got good hand-eye coordination, and although he’s only six, Jensen can tell that he’s going to be good. Emma, at ten, has still got a few inches of height on him, and is quick enough on her feet that she often manages to kick the ball out from under Brady.
Jensen’s watching them trying to tackle the ball from each other before Jared comes into play and steals it from them. “Daddy!” Brady cries and the kids chase after him, grabbing onto his legs and trying to kick the ball away from him. Jared eventually relents, pretending to lose control of it so Emma can steal it back.
“Oh no you don’t!” Jared exclaims, and picks up each kid with one arm so that they’re off the ground, legs swinging in mid air, and kicks the ball towards their makeshift goal.
“Papa!” Emma cries. “Daddy’s cheating again.”
Jensen puts down his coffee and looks at his daughter in mock exasperation. “Again? That’s it, I think it’s time we taught your daddy a lesson.”
The three of them gang up on Jared, and at one point Jensen tackles him to the ground so Brady can kick a goal unobstructed.
“You play dirty, Padalecki.” Jared grins.
“You should see me in the bedroom,” Jensen replies quietly, smirking.
Jared leans up and gives him a hard and fast kiss before Emma pulls them both off the ground.
“Let’s play teams!” she suggests, grabbing Jensen’s hand. “Me and Papa against Daddy and Brady.”
As he’s running around on the grass with his family, laughing and tackling and sharing a fond smile with Jared, he can’t help but think that life doesn’t get better than this.
FIN.
Now with a timestamp Grow Fonder