FIC: "Crevasse Rescue" (5/7)
Crevasse Rescue
By Simarillion
Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Universe: Alternative Universe
Rating: R
Beta: Asm Z
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, others
Warnings: slash, M/M
Word Count: 3,044
Summary: Tell it like it is. (Of settling and living)
Disclaimer: None of the herein presented happenings and events are true. Everything is 100% fiction and that includes the sexuality of the characters. I don’t claim to be in the know about their relations and private affairs, and I don’t make any money with the creation of this story.
Author’s Note: I changed the age of Jensen and Jared, they are the same age now. The plot wouldn’t really work otherwise.
This is part 4 of the Glaciology! ‘verse. Jensen is a scientist in the field of glaciology and he spends most of his time surrounded by ice, whereas Jared is a Hollywood movie star. Prequel to this story are Invisible Glaciers, Iceberg Anatomy and Avalanches Approaching.
[ Masterpost]
Part Five
The last week of October, Jensen flies up to Edmonton for his lecture at UA. Danneel picks him up from the airport and they drive to her apartment, which is right next to the campus. Jensen teases her about almost living in a dorm, but she just whacks him on the back of his head and tells him to shut up.
Dean is staying with Mike and Tom, and Mrs. Gabbles is feeding the cat. It turned out that the ginger and tabby cat that had been slinking around Jensen’s garden is a girl cat with four kittens. They find out about it when the gardener comes to dig out the pond. It is decided that the shed will be torn down and the pond put at its place. When the workers start tearing down boards and shingles from the ramshackle construction they find four baby kittens hidden in a nest of old towels behind stacks of boxes.
Jensen puts the little animals into a basket he’s lined with a soft towel, and takes them inside. When the mother returns later and finds the people taking apart what was her home, she hunkers down in the bushes and watches them move around. While the men take a break and sit on the porch drinking water, she moves closer to the remnants of the shed and starts looking around and meowing for her babies.
Dean is locked into the house and Jensen takes the basket and slowly and cautiously approaches the cat. The animal hides under a stack of boards and Jensen sets down the new nest of the kittens. Walking backwards from them he watches as the cat slowly crawls closer to the basket.
The men pretend to look away, but they all watch her carry her babies back to the bushes. Once all of the kittens are hidden, Jensen gets the basket and lets Dean outside again. The husky looks at him like he betrayed the dog, and curls up under the table next to Martin, the boss of the work troop.
Worrying about the cat and her kittens, Jensen takes to leaving food at the edge of the bushes every evening. The milk and meat is gone every morning but he doesn’t know if the cat eats it or maybe raccoons or rats get to it before she does. It’s five days later that Jensen looks out of the bathroom window when he gets ready for bed. He sees the cat sitting at the bowls and wolfing down the chow Jensen left for her.
Suddenly Jensen feels like he’s responsible for the feline family, and so he finds himself in a pet store buying cat food, and bottles of cat milk (the shop assistant is eager to point out that it is healthier than normal milk for cats). From then on Jensen feeds the cat in the mornings and the evenings. It takes a week or two and she’s used to his presence, not even moving when he waters the flowers in the garden.
Dean tries to play with her in the beginning, but Jensen’s reprimands have him ignore the feline after that. The husky can’t help but not so subtly watch the cat eat.
Another two weeks after that when she shows up the four kittens are with her. Two of them are tabby, one is ginger, and one is white tabby and ginger. The small cats carefully copy their mother, and Jensen brings some more food to make sure that everyone of them is fed.
This is how Jensen now lives with five cats and a dog. While the cats aren’t coming inside, preferring to live in the wood behind Jensen’s property, they occasionally allow him to pet them. His elderly neighbor, Mrs. Gabbles is instantly in love with the cats, and Jensen asks her to feed them for him while he’s gone.
So, with his pets taken care of, Jensen can enjoy his stay with Danneel the next four days. The course he teaches is compressed into three units of three days each. It will be packed tight, but it enables him to teach at both Stanford and UA.
The drive from the airport to Danneel’s is spent talking about Jensen’s schedule the next three days. Danneel insists on helping with the part that deals with their work in Alaska. According to her it would be boring to just wait for Jensen to finish everyday; she wants to be occupied as well.
They arrive in front of the house and Jensen grabs his bag from the backseat, following his friend inside. The apartment reminds him of the one he and Mike lived in during their student days at UA. He guesses that the majority of tenants are students of UA.
Danneel lives on the fourth floor, and when she unlocks the door, Jensen steps into a comfortable apartment that he likes instantly.
“Very nice.” He sets his bag down in the hall and toes off his shoes.
“Well, it’s not your house but I like it.” Danneel shrugs out of her coat and ushers Jensen down the hallway to the living room. “I have no guest room because I turned it into my office, but I can offer you the couch.”
“That’s fine.” Jensen walks around the room and inspects everything. When he finds a photo of him, Danneel and the team, he picks it up and turns around to his friend. “You miss them as well?”
“Like you won’t believe. Jeff e-mailed me last week and he told me that the project will wrap up around Christmas time and the dogs will be shipped to Kim after that.” Jensen nods at that. Jeff had sent him an e-mail as well, and Kim had given him a call asking some more in detail information about the team.
“So, how about some dinner?” She walks to the kitchen and Jensen sets the framed picture down again to follow her.
“I’m starving. With getting Dean to Mike and Tom, and me leaving early to get a couple of books from the bookstore that I ordered for the course, I haven’t eaten since breakfast. The strange thing they tried to hand out on the plane doesn’t count. It looked like someone had already eaten it once.” He leans against the door frame to stay out of Danneel’s way.
“I have yet to eat food on a plane that I like.” She gets meat out of the fridge and seasons it. “Steak and vegetables alright with you?”
“Perfect.” And with that she starts cooking. Jensen asks to help and gets to cut vegetables and prepare the salad. He sets the table and gets them something to drink.
Once the food is ready, Danneel serves it and they eat, chatting about their week. Afterwards she puts the dishes into the dishwasher and throws the leftovers into the garbage.
They relocate into the living room where they plop down onto the couch. Jensen feels full from the delicious food and sighs content-
“So, how’s Jared.” Danneel’s question has Jensen shrug and he stares ahead.
“He’s okay.” But his voice is lacking conviction.
“What’s the matter, Jensen?” She turns to face him, and it makes him uncomfortable to have her stare at him this closely.
“Nothing’s the matter, it’s just that he’s very busy and we haven’t talked much.” He tries to downplay his disappointment about the lack of calls there have been between them. What he said is the truth. Jared is very busy, and the time difference doesn’t make things any better. But lately whenever they do manage to talk, Jensen gets the impression that Jared would prefer to do something else.
“Well, he’ll be back in a week, right?” She tries to make Jensen feel better, and it has him smile weakly at her.
“Yeah, but they have more work to do still. He won’t be much better off time wise.”
“But at least the time difference won’t be a problem anymore.” Jensen isn’t so sure that this will improve anything at all. Worse, if Jared comes back and things continue as they are now, Jensen will feel even more down.
“Yeah, it will be better once he’s in LA.” He looks around the room trying to find something to start another conversation. He doesn’t want to spoil his time with his friend with his stupid worries about Jared.
Danneel seems to sense Jensen’s wish to drop the subject and she reaches for the remote and declares that they have to watch this movie she found at the movie rental place. So the next two hours they spend watching a team of sled dogs surviving on their own in the Antarctic after they couldn’t be evacuated from their research station.
The movie is a family movie but they enjoy it never the less, and they can’t stop mocking the acting skills of the actor who plays the musher. At one time Danneel is copying the look on the actor’s face and has Jensen laugh so hard he’s gasping for air.
That night he sleeps deeply on the couch, and when Danneel wakes him the next morning with a freshly brewed cup of copy, he declares her to be his goddess. They get ready for university and walk over to the campus with groups of students from their apartment building. Jensen almost feels like he’s back at college himself.
His course is packed, and over the next three days he talks more than he’s ever done in his whole life. Every evening Danneel drags him off to the pub down the block of her apartment. She claims that all that talking dehydrates Jensen and the only way he can make sure he stays healthy is to drink lots of beer.
Every night he falls more than a little tipsy onto the couch and snores loudly until Danneel wakes him the next morning. Jensen is sure that he has to look like a bum with his puffy eyes. But he enjoys himself too much to stop their routine.
On the last evening, Dr. Kripke asks them to go for dinner with him, and the three of them go to some Italian place the professor likes. It’s no family place, but it’s nothing too fancy either. For the first time in days, Jensen has something else than beer when he orders a glass of red wine. The food is delicious and catching up with his former professor is something Jensen enjoys immensely. He asks about the project next Spring Break and tells Dr. Kripke about Kerr.
The morning of the day Jensen has to leave, Danneel insists on going for breakfast at the coffee shop on campus. So, after Jensen has made sure everything is packed, they take a short stroll which ends at the coffee shop.
They are sitting at the window, and the waitress has just taken their order. Danneel looks at him and there’s a serious look on her face.
“Jensen, about Jared.” Jensen tenses, waiting for what comes next. “I know that you’re a guy and guys don’t like talking about things like relationships, but still, don’t give up too easily. Usually the rough spots come later on, but with the two of you, you have to do everything backwards. Just keep in mind that the great part is still waiting to happen.”
He stares out of the glass front of the shop and nods tersely. Danneel means well, and Jensen is grateful to have her as a friend, but right now nothing she says or does can change how things are and how Jensen feels about them.
“Okay, and now let’s eat some breakfast and talk about things that are more fun.” She sits back and smiles warmly at him, Jensen can see her reflection on the glass.
Their conversation returns slowly, but by the time the coffee and their Missing Home special student breakfast arrives, with everything that one could think of, they are once more laughing about funny stories and incidents that happened the last three days.
After breakfast, where they both ate so much that they’re almost green in the face, Danneel and Jensen stroll back to the apartment and pick up Jensen’s bags. They drive to the airport, already planning on what to do when Jensen’s next lecture comes up. Unsurprisingly, Danneel’s suggestions mostly start with b and end witheer.
Jensen makes her promise not to wave with a white handkerchief as he walks through customs, and so their final parting is far less dramatic than it could be. Almost an hour early, Jensen wanders through the duty free area, buys a pink grapefruit Snapples at Starbucks, and browses through different shops.
In a small gift shop, Jensen finds a key chain that looks like an intricate ice crystal made of silver. It may look a bit feminine but he likes it so much, that he buys the key chain and switches his keys from his old metal ring to the new one, tying the broken leather strap from Dean’s first leash to it. In the book shop, Jensen buys two magazines, one featuring a large photo of Jared, the other one the new National Geographic.
When it’s finally time to board the plane, he makes for his terminal, and a short time later he’s sitting in his seat, magazines on his lap, and waits for the plane to depart.
The flight assistants give their ‘flight show’ and then the “fasten seatbelts” sign lights up. The man next to Jensen stares ahead, close to panicking. There’s sweat on his brow, and his fingers claw into the arm rest between them. Jensen carefully keeps his hands in his lap, worrying that the guy might grab it and break a couple of his fingers with his vice like grip.
During the flight, Jensen does his best to ignore the man, and only when the refreshment cart stops next to them, offering food and drinks, he has to converse with the stranger. The rest of the time Jensen keeps busy reading and sleeping.
Once the plane is starting the landing procedures, the man next to him goes all pale and his hold on the armrest gets even tighter. For a moment Jensen fears that he’ll break his fingers from gripping so tight. The flight attendant, who’s been trying to calm the guy down the whole flight, is smiling encouragingly at him, but it doesn’t help.
Jensen waits for him to leave, and unsurprisingly the man is the first to go off board. It’s a couple of minutes later that Jensen leaves the plane and makes for the baggage claim.
Tom is waiting at the arrivals, and he’s holding up a self-made name plate. There are paw prints on it and weird doodles. Tom is wearing sunglasses and he cranes his neck to get a better look at the people coming outside. Once he’s spotted Jensen, he tucks the plate under his arm and walks up to him.
“Hi Jensen.” Tom’s attempt of helping with the bags is stopped, and Jensen commandeers a trolley with which he follows his friend.
“Nice name plate.” Jensen sees Tom flinch. “Mike’s idea?”
“Yeah, he thought that since Thanksgiving isn’t too far away, lots of traveling would be going on, and it would be easier to find each other this way.” What his friend doesn’t say anything about is the embarrassment factor of the whole thing.
“Thanks for picking me up.” At this Tom just nods.
The car is right at the exit of the garage. Jensen stows away his bags, shoving the magazines into the duffle bag with the teaching material, and gets into the car. It’s warmer in San Francisco than it was in Edmonton, but with winter just around the corner it isn’t hot either. Jensen likes the weather of this time of the year.
Tom asks him about his time at UA and how Danneel is doing, and Jensen happily talks about the course, his students, meeting Dr. Kripke, and spending time with Danneel. His friend laughs about the stories tells him about their nightly outings to the local pub, and Jensen has to promise that he’ll go out with Mike and Tom in the not too distant future.
Mike is already waiting with Dean at the curb as the two of them pull up, and the husky enthusiastically greets Jensen as he gets out of the car. Jensen pets the dog, crouching down and letting him lick his face and hands, barking and yipping with joy.
The display of exhilaration has Mike grumble. “As if we tortured him and now he’s getting rescued.”
This has Jensen and Tom laugh. Once the dog has calmed down somewhat, Jensen greets his friend, and they head into the house.
He stays until the evening with them, just hanging and having fun. Since Jensen has been rather busy with the preparation of his first ‘marathon’ session at UA, they haven’t had the time to meet the last couple of weeks.
After dinner, which is chili cooked by Jensen, since Mike’s attempts of cooking Tex-Mex always end up in the garbage, Tom and Jensen get ready to head out for Jensen’s home. Once more he has to promise that the three of them will go out for a drink sometime this week. With Mike cleaning the kitchen, Jensen gets Dean’s stuff, and they head out.
Dean is loaded into the car, and Tom takes the two, dog and human, to their own home. The drive doesn’t take too long, and soon Jensen is letting Dean out of the back of the car, and takes his bags. He says his thanks and heads up the path to the front door. In the back, he can hear his friend drive off. Jensen sets down his bags next to the door, and digs through his pockets for his keys.
Unlocking he lets Dean in, who wedges past him in the hurry to get inside, and then picks up his luggage and enters himself. There’s a bit of a stale smell in the air, but once he’s carried his bags up to the bedroom, he opens a window and the door to the porch, and lets fresh air in.
Jensen takes a short walk around the house and checks everything, and then walk out onto the porch. He sits down on the stairs to the garden, and takes out is phone. Dialing Jared’s number he looks out over the garden, checking if everything is alright here, as well.
The phone rings a couple of times, and then it goes to the mailbox. Jensen waits for the beep and takes a deep breath. “Hi Jared. I know that it’s in the middle of the night in Europe, but I just wanted to ask about the date of your arrival. Maybe I could visit on the weekend after? Just send me a message or call me if you have the time, and let me know. Bye, Jensen.”
He ends the call and stares down at his hands which are holding the cell phone in their grasp. Once more the only thing he heard is Jared’s mailbox message. Maybe he’ll call back this time. The only thing he can do is wait and see.
continue: Part Six
By Simarillion
Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Universe: Alternative Universe
Rating: R
Beta: Asm Z
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, others
Warnings: slash, M/M
Word Count: 3,044
Summary: Tell it like it is. (Of settling and living)
Disclaimer: None of the herein presented happenings and events are true. Everything is 100% fiction and that includes the sexuality of the characters. I don’t claim to be in the know about their relations and private affairs, and I don’t make any money with the creation of this story.
Author’s Note: I changed the age of Jensen and Jared, they are the same age now. The plot wouldn’t really work otherwise.
This is part 4 of the Glaciology! ‘verse. Jensen is a scientist in the field of glaciology and he spends most of his time surrounded by ice, whereas Jared is a Hollywood movie star. Prequel to this story are Invisible Glaciers, Iceberg Anatomy and Avalanches Approaching.
[ Masterpost]
Part Five
The last week of October, Jensen flies up to Edmonton for his lecture at UA. Danneel picks him up from the airport and they drive to her apartment, which is right next to the campus. Jensen teases her about almost living in a dorm, but she just whacks him on the back of his head and tells him to shut up.
Dean is staying with Mike and Tom, and Mrs. Gabbles is feeding the cat. It turned out that the ginger and tabby cat that had been slinking around Jensen’s garden is a girl cat with four kittens. They find out about it when the gardener comes to dig out the pond. It is decided that the shed will be torn down and the pond put at its place. When the workers start tearing down boards and shingles from the ramshackle construction they find four baby kittens hidden in a nest of old towels behind stacks of boxes.
Jensen puts the little animals into a basket he’s lined with a soft towel, and takes them inside. When the mother returns later and finds the people taking apart what was her home, she hunkers down in the bushes and watches them move around. While the men take a break and sit on the porch drinking water, she moves closer to the remnants of the shed and starts looking around and meowing for her babies.
Dean is locked into the house and Jensen takes the basket and slowly and cautiously approaches the cat. The animal hides under a stack of boards and Jensen sets down the new nest of the kittens. Walking backwards from them he watches as the cat slowly crawls closer to the basket.
The men pretend to look away, but they all watch her carry her babies back to the bushes. Once all of the kittens are hidden, Jensen gets the basket and lets Dean outside again. The husky looks at him like he betrayed the dog, and curls up under the table next to Martin, the boss of the work troop.
Worrying about the cat and her kittens, Jensen takes to leaving food at the edge of the bushes every evening. The milk and meat is gone every morning but he doesn’t know if the cat eats it or maybe raccoons or rats get to it before she does. It’s five days later that Jensen looks out of the bathroom window when he gets ready for bed. He sees the cat sitting at the bowls and wolfing down the chow Jensen left for her.
Suddenly Jensen feels like he’s responsible for the feline family, and so he finds himself in a pet store buying cat food, and bottles of cat milk (the shop assistant is eager to point out that it is healthier than normal milk for cats). From then on Jensen feeds the cat in the mornings and the evenings. It takes a week or two and she’s used to his presence, not even moving when he waters the flowers in the garden.
Dean tries to play with her in the beginning, but Jensen’s reprimands have him ignore the feline after that. The husky can’t help but not so subtly watch the cat eat.
Another two weeks after that when she shows up the four kittens are with her. Two of them are tabby, one is ginger, and one is white tabby and ginger. The small cats carefully copy their mother, and Jensen brings some more food to make sure that everyone of them is fed.
This is how Jensen now lives with five cats and a dog. While the cats aren’t coming inside, preferring to live in the wood behind Jensen’s property, they occasionally allow him to pet them. His elderly neighbor, Mrs. Gabbles is instantly in love with the cats, and Jensen asks her to feed them for him while he’s gone.
So, with his pets taken care of, Jensen can enjoy his stay with Danneel the next four days. The course he teaches is compressed into three units of three days each. It will be packed tight, but it enables him to teach at both Stanford and UA.
The drive from the airport to Danneel’s is spent talking about Jensen’s schedule the next three days. Danneel insists on helping with the part that deals with their work in Alaska. According to her it would be boring to just wait for Jensen to finish everyday; she wants to be occupied as well.
They arrive in front of the house and Jensen grabs his bag from the backseat, following his friend inside. The apartment reminds him of the one he and Mike lived in during their student days at UA. He guesses that the majority of tenants are students of UA.
Danneel lives on the fourth floor, and when she unlocks the door, Jensen steps into a comfortable apartment that he likes instantly.
“Very nice.” He sets his bag down in the hall and toes off his shoes.
“Well, it’s not your house but I like it.” Danneel shrugs out of her coat and ushers Jensen down the hallway to the living room. “I have no guest room because I turned it into my office, but I can offer you the couch.”
“That’s fine.” Jensen walks around the room and inspects everything. When he finds a photo of him, Danneel and the team, he picks it up and turns around to his friend. “You miss them as well?”
“Like you won’t believe. Jeff e-mailed me last week and he told me that the project will wrap up around Christmas time and the dogs will be shipped to Kim after that.” Jensen nods at that. Jeff had sent him an e-mail as well, and Kim had given him a call asking some more in detail information about the team.
“So, how about some dinner?” She walks to the kitchen and Jensen sets the framed picture down again to follow her.
“I’m starving. With getting Dean to Mike and Tom, and me leaving early to get a couple of books from the bookstore that I ordered for the course, I haven’t eaten since breakfast. The strange thing they tried to hand out on the plane doesn’t count. It looked like someone had already eaten it once.” He leans against the door frame to stay out of Danneel’s way.
“I have yet to eat food on a plane that I like.” She gets meat out of the fridge and seasons it. “Steak and vegetables alright with you?”
“Perfect.” And with that she starts cooking. Jensen asks to help and gets to cut vegetables and prepare the salad. He sets the table and gets them something to drink.
Once the food is ready, Danneel serves it and they eat, chatting about their week. Afterwards she puts the dishes into the dishwasher and throws the leftovers into the garbage.
They relocate into the living room where they plop down onto the couch. Jensen feels full from the delicious food and sighs content-
“So, how’s Jared.” Danneel’s question has Jensen shrug and he stares ahead.
“He’s okay.” But his voice is lacking conviction.
“What’s the matter, Jensen?” She turns to face him, and it makes him uncomfortable to have her stare at him this closely.
“Nothing’s the matter, it’s just that he’s very busy and we haven’t talked much.” He tries to downplay his disappointment about the lack of calls there have been between them. What he said is the truth. Jared is very busy, and the time difference doesn’t make things any better. But lately whenever they do manage to talk, Jensen gets the impression that Jared would prefer to do something else.
“Well, he’ll be back in a week, right?” She tries to make Jensen feel better, and it has him smile weakly at her.
“Yeah, but they have more work to do still. He won’t be much better off time wise.”
“But at least the time difference won’t be a problem anymore.” Jensen isn’t so sure that this will improve anything at all. Worse, if Jared comes back and things continue as they are now, Jensen will feel even more down.
“Yeah, it will be better once he’s in LA.” He looks around the room trying to find something to start another conversation. He doesn’t want to spoil his time with his friend with his stupid worries about Jared.
Danneel seems to sense Jensen’s wish to drop the subject and she reaches for the remote and declares that they have to watch this movie she found at the movie rental place. So the next two hours they spend watching a team of sled dogs surviving on their own in the Antarctic after they couldn’t be evacuated from their research station.
The movie is a family movie but they enjoy it never the less, and they can’t stop mocking the acting skills of the actor who plays the musher. At one time Danneel is copying the look on the actor’s face and has Jensen laugh so hard he’s gasping for air.
That night he sleeps deeply on the couch, and when Danneel wakes him the next morning with a freshly brewed cup of copy, he declares her to be his goddess. They get ready for university and walk over to the campus with groups of students from their apartment building. Jensen almost feels like he’s back at college himself.
His course is packed, and over the next three days he talks more than he’s ever done in his whole life. Every evening Danneel drags him off to the pub down the block of her apartment. She claims that all that talking dehydrates Jensen and the only way he can make sure he stays healthy is to drink lots of beer.
Every night he falls more than a little tipsy onto the couch and snores loudly until Danneel wakes him the next morning. Jensen is sure that he has to look like a bum with his puffy eyes. But he enjoys himself too much to stop their routine.
On the last evening, Dr. Kripke asks them to go for dinner with him, and the three of them go to some Italian place the professor likes. It’s no family place, but it’s nothing too fancy either. For the first time in days, Jensen has something else than beer when he orders a glass of red wine. The food is delicious and catching up with his former professor is something Jensen enjoys immensely. He asks about the project next Spring Break and tells Dr. Kripke about Kerr.
The morning of the day Jensen has to leave, Danneel insists on going for breakfast at the coffee shop on campus. So, after Jensen has made sure everything is packed, they take a short stroll which ends at the coffee shop.
They are sitting at the window, and the waitress has just taken their order. Danneel looks at him and there’s a serious look on her face.
“Jensen, about Jared.” Jensen tenses, waiting for what comes next. “I know that you’re a guy and guys don’t like talking about things like relationships, but still, don’t give up too easily. Usually the rough spots come later on, but with the two of you, you have to do everything backwards. Just keep in mind that the great part is still waiting to happen.”
He stares out of the glass front of the shop and nods tersely. Danneel means well, and Jensen is grateful to have her as a friend, but right now nothing she says or does can change how things are and how Jensen feels about them.
“Okay, and now let’s eat some breakfast and talk about things that are more fun.” She sits back and smiles warmly at him, Jensen can see her reflection on the glass.
Their conversation returns slowly, but by the time the coffee and their Missing Home special student breakfast arrives, with everything that one could think of, they are once more laughing about funny stories and incidents that happened the last three days.
After breakfast, where they both ate so much that they’re almost green in the face, Danneel and Jensen stroll back to the apartment and pick up Jensen’s bags. They drive to the airport, already planning on what to do when Jensen’s next lecture comes up. Unsurprisingly, Danneel’s suggestions mostly start with b and end witheer.
Jensen makes her promise not to wave with a white handkerchief as he walks through customs, and so their final parting is far less dramatic than it could be. Almost an hour early, Jensen wanders through the duty free area, buys a pink grapefruit Snapples at Starbucks, and browses through different shops.
In a small gift shop, Jensen finds a key chain that looks like an intricate ice crystal made of silver. It may look a bit feminine but he likes it so much, that he buys the key chain and switches his keys from his old metal ring to the new one, tying the broken leather strap from Dean’s first leash to it. In the book shop, Jensen buys two magazines, one featuring a large photo of Jared, the other one the new National Geographic.
When it’s finally time to board the plane, he makes for his terminal, and a short time later he’s sitting in his seat, magazines on his lap, and waits for the plane to depart.
The flight assistants give their ‘flight show’ and then the “fasten seatbelts” sign lights up. The man next to Jensen stares ahead, close to panicking. There’s sweat on his brow, and his fingers claw into the arm rest between them. Jensen carefully keeps his hands in his lap, worrying that the guy might grab it and break a couple of his fingers with his vice like grip.
During the flight, Jensen does his best to ignore the man, and only when the refreshment cart stops next to them, offering food and drinks, he has to converse with the stranger. The rest of the time Jensen keeps busy reading and sleeping.
Once the plane is starting the landing procedures, the man next to him goes all pale and his hold on the armrest gets even tighter. For a moment Jensen fears that he’ll break his fingers from gripping so tight. The flight attendant, who’s been trying to calm the guy down the whole flight, is smiling encouragingly at him, but it doesn’t help.
Jensen waits for him to leave, and unsurprisingly the man is the first to go off board. It’s a couple of minutes later that Jensen leaves the plane and makes for the baggage claim.
Tom is waiting at the arrivals, and he’s holding up a self-made name plate. There are paw prints on it and weird doodles. Tom is wearing sunglasses and he cranes his neck to get a better look at the people coming outside. Once he’s spotted Jensen, he tucks the plate under his arm and walks up to him.
“Hi Jensen.” Tom’s attempt of helping with the bags is stopped, and Jensen commandeers a trolley with which he follows his friend.
“Nice name plate.” Jensen sees Tom flinch. “Mike’s idea?”
“Yeah, he thought that since Thanksgiving isn’t too far away, lots of traveling would be going on, and it would be easier to find each other this way.” What his friend doesn’t say anything about is the embarrassment factor of the whole thing.
“Thanks for picking me up.” At this Tom just nods.
The car is right at the exit of the garage. Jensen stows away his bags, shoving the magazines into the duffle bag with the teaching material, and gets into the car. It’s warmer in San Francisco than it was in Edmonton, but with winter just around the corner it isn’t hot either. Jensen likes the weather of this time of the year.
Tom asks him about his time at UA and how Danneel is doing, and Jensen happily talks about the course, his students, meeting Dr. Kripke, and spending time with Danneel. His friend laughs about the stories tells him about their nightly outings to the local pub, and Jensen has to promise that he’ll go out with Mike and Tom in the not too distant future.
Mike is already waiting with Dean at the curb as the two of them pull up, and the husky enthusiastically greets Jensen as he gets out of the car. Jensen pets the dog, crouching down and letting him lick his face and hands, barking and yipping with joy.
The display of exhilaration has Mike grumble. “As if we tortured him and now he’s getting rescued.”
This has Jensen and Tom laugh. Once the dog has calmed down somewhat, Jensen greets his friend, and they head into the house.
He stays until the evening with them, just hanging and having fun. Since Jensen has been rather busy with the preparation of his first ‘marathon’ session at UA, they haven’t had the time to meet the last couple of weeks.
After dinner, which is chili cooked by Jensen, since Mike’s attempts of cooking Tex-Mex always end up in the garbage, Tom and Jensen get ready to head out for Jensen’s home. Once more he has to promise that the three of them will go out for a drink sometime this week. With Mike cleaning the kitchen, Jensen gets Dean’s stuff, and they head out.
Dean is loaded into the car, and Tom takes the two, dog and human, to their own home. The drive doesn’t take too long, and soon Jensen is letting Dean out of the back of the car, and takes his bags. He says his thanks and heads up the path to the front door. In the back, he can hear his friend drive off. Jensen sets down his bags next to the door, and digs through his pockets for his keys.
Unlocking he lets Dean in, who wedges past him in the hurry to get inside, and then picks up his luggage and enters himself. There’s a bit of a stale smell in the air, but once he’s carried his bags up to the bedroom, he opens a window and the door to the porch, and lets fresh air in.
Jensen takes a short walk around the house and checks everything, and then walk out onto the porch. He sits down on the stairs to the garden, and takes out is phone. Dialing Jared’s number he looks out over the garden, checking if everything is alright here, as well.
The phone rings a couple of times, and then it goes to the mailbox. Jensen waits for the beep and takes a deep breath. “Hi Jared. I know that it’s in the middle of the night in Europe, but I just wanted to ask about the date of your arrival. Maybe I could visit on the weekend after? Just send me a message or call me if you have the time, and let me know. Bye, Jensen.”
He ends the call and stares down at his hands which are holding the cell phone in their grasp. Once more the only thing he heard is Jared’s mailbox message. Maybe he’ll call back this time. The only thing he can do is wait and see.
continue: Part Six