FIC: "Shelf Ice Meander" (2/10)
Shelf Ice Meander
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: 2,994 (6,195)
Summary: What does it take to break you? (Of betrayals and broken trust)
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, Avalanches Approaching and Crevasse Rescue.
[ Masterpost]
Part Two
After Christmas Jensen and Jared start to reconnect. They still see each other only once every couple of weeks, mostly due to Jared’s insane schedule, but they are talking on the phone and Jared even drives up with the dogs after his stint as the host of the Oscars. Jensen starts to forget about the worries that had been eating at him during November and December, and he enjoys the time he gets to spend with Jared.
His first semester as a teacher wraps up and Jensen agrees to stay for spring as well, even tentatively talking about next fall. Dean Madsen is happy about keeping her glaciology expert and the EESS department is slowly being restructured to create a branch of Polar Environmental Systems.
The agreement to an extension of his work at Stanford has also the effect that he can finally really settle down. Even though he had bought and restored the house, the uncertainty about what will happen once the semester is over. Now he knows that he’s going to stay.
In his second semester at Stanford, Jensen teaches two courses and a seminar, and he asks Kerr to take on the job of being his TA. The young man is beside himself with happiness, and promises to spend all his time on helping his professor with the increased workload.
Tom and Mike tease him about the crush the student has on Jensen. Every time he tries to defend Kerr’s actions, they cackle and tease Jensen some more about the true love at the EESS department. In the end Jensen opts to ignore their jokes. The more he protests the longer they will keep going on about it.
Shortly before Spring Break, David calls him and tells him about an AE meeting about their summer project. Jensen offers to meet at Stanford, so Chuck can participate as well. The other professor has been asking him nonstop about the progress of the expedition.
So, when Jensen packs his bags for the trip up North to the Northwest Territories, his private and work life have reached a summit that has Jensen content and happy. Even the loss of living in the midst of snow and ice is easily born if he’s this pleased with everything.
Kerr travels for the first time so far North, and the last two weeks before their departure he constantly checks with Jensen about appropriate attire and gear for their expedition. Never before has Jensen been so up-to-date (all the time) on weather conditions and travel details. His TA informs him daily, if not semi-daily, about changes (or the lack of changes).
Dean is staying with Mike and Tom this time. Jensen wanted to take the husky with him, but it was decided that traveling will be done by snow mobiles and not by dog sleds. It would only be a hindrance for the group, and it would be uncomfortable for the dog as well, if Jensen insisted on bringing Dean.
Mike is actually the one who takes Jensen to the airport. He’s insisted on it, in the hopes of meeting Jensen’s TA. Mike has been accusing Jensen of keeping the young man from them. Truthfully, Jensen has done his best to keep Tom and Mike from getting Kerr in their fingers. This is one experience the student wouldn’t recover from.
When his friend meets the young man, he pretends to be a normal human being (unlike the crazy person he), and curiously asks about Kerr’s field experience and hope for this trip.
Jensen ignores Mike and Kerr in the favor of calling Jared before they leave. Since he will be without reception for the next two weeks. Jared had said that he would be at work (some kind of photo shoot and a short promo movie), but he picks up after just two rings.
“Hey!” Jared is slightly breathless.
“Hi. Am I interrupting?” Jensen keeps an eye on Mike and Kerr, noticing the ‘friendly’ arm Mike has around the other’s shoulder. Knowing his friend so well, he knows that Mike is up to something.
The next time Mike glances over at Jensen, he glares threateningly at his friend, but Mike just grins and turns back to Kerr.
“Naw, we’re on a break because there’s some trouble with the lights.” Jensen can hear Jared closing a door. “I’m actually in my room. I get to leave them arguing about spotlights, shades of light, and anything else light related .”
Jared’s words have him laugh. Jensen feels warmth spreading in his chest as he thinks about Jared and the way he has become so important to him.
“Well, that sounds really serious.” He turns away from Kerr and Mike to keep the latter from prying into Jensen’s call. All of his friends, Chris, Danneel, Mike, and Tom, hadn’t been too happy about Jensen’s willingness to forget about Jared’s indifference and coldness. They had argued that Jensen is going too easy on Jared, and that he’ll eventually have to pay for it.
But Jensen refuses to carry a grudge. He likes spending time with Jared (conversationally and physically) and it goes against everything he is, to keep his distance, just to prove a point. Besides, he’s got faith in Jared. Jensen believes that he has realized how hurtful his actions had been, and that he’ll refrain from repeating the mistakes he made.
“Yeah.” Jared snorts amused. “Like you won’t believe. So, you already at the airport?”
“Just arrived. Mike drove me, and he’s torturing my TA.” Though, from the looks of it, Kerr enjoys talking with Mike though. At least he doesn’t have this frightened look in his eyes that some people get when they meet Mike for the first time.
“Your friends are weird.” At that Jensen cringes. He knows that it’s somewhat his fault that Jared and his friends never met, but he doesn’t understand where the dislike comes from. It’s not like they ever had the chance to have a disagreement in the first place.
“D’you still have the time to visit once I’m back from the trip?” Jensen really hopes that Jared won’t sign some last minute contract, and be gone for weeks, without seeing him.
“Things look good for everything to stay the same. I haven’t heard anything about changes in shooting schedules, and I forbade my agent and my PR agent under pain of death, to schedule me for something extra in that time.” Even though most of the time Jared’s agent and/or his PR guy don’t particularly care about Jared’s demands where time and schedules are concerned, they know that some things Jared is very adamant about.
“Great.” When he turns back to check in Mike and Kerr, he finds them watching him. Mike points at his watch. “I have to go, but I’ll call you once I’m back in California.”
“You do that.” Jensen says his goodbye to Jared, and once he’s put away his phone, they make for the check in. It’s there that Mike leaves them, and after checking in their bags, the two of them head for the duty free area and the terminal.
Much to Jensen’s embarrassment they are actually the last passengers to board, and once they’re on the plane, the starting procedures start. Jensen and Kerr go to their seats and after the take off they grab some more sleep. They’ll need it in the days to come.
They change planes in Vancouver, where they take some kind of twin engine transport aircraft up to the meeting point. Dr. Kripke and his students will be coming up from Edmonton, and the two students from the Scott Polar Institute will arrive from London (Jensen doesn’t even want to know how often they have to change planes to get to their destination).
When they left in San Francisco, they wore sweaters and coats, nothing too warm. The closer they get to the North, the colder it gets. Sitting in a plane that is far from luxurious, they are soon freezing, and they change behind crates into their gear.
The pilot wishes them good luck when they part at the small airfield in the middle of nowhere. The only other person is a guy in heavy gear, waving at them. Jensen and Kerr lug their bags over to the stranger.
As it turns out, the guy is their local guide for the expedition. Michael lives in the nearest village, which is about a hundred miles to the east, and he likes to talk about what everyone thought and said about the group of scientists coming up here. Apparently, they are the most exciting thing that has happened to the community in a long time.
Kerr is constantly shivering, not being used to the cold. Jensen has to realize that he’s grown soft ever since he moved to California. A year ago he would have smiled at the temperature of this place, calling it ‘nice’, but now he finds that he could do with another shirt himself.
Their little gathering has to wait for an hour before another plane touches down, and a group of fifteen people get out. Apparently the British joined the rest of the group earlier on in Edmonton. Michael waves at the newcomers and he’s smiling happily at the people making their way over the snow covered expanse to the trio waiting for them.
Michael jokes about city slickers being unused to the life up in the North, and he calls Dr. Kripke ‘sir’. This has the professor’s students grin at each other.
During the first days of their trek the humor and good mood of their guide is of great importance. The students are growing tired easily, and people like Kerr are constantly freezing. They have calculated odds like these, and the two teachers change their route, conferring with their guide about the difficulty of the altered route.
At first the students want to complain about the change in plans, but after the fourth day, they are only too happy about the shorter version of the trek.
The final destination is an ice cave that they are to explore a little, and bring some preliminary data home . While students and TAs are collecting samples and measuring the cavern, Michael shows Dr. Kripke and Jensen around, and they decide there and then to return the next year. There’s far too much to discover in the short amount of time they have.
On their way back from the cave to the airfield one of the British students hurts her leg when she wanders off from the camp, and steps onto a snow-covered patch of ice. She slips and twists her ankle. It’s Kerr who finds her and helps the student back to the camp.
The accident, and the girl’s incapability of walking, slows them down. However, with the help of the snow mobiles, they make it back to the meeting point in time.
Unlike their travel to the starting point, the group departs from their final destination by a small plane that takes them to Edmonton. Jensen and Kerr have to take their flight back to San Francisco from there.
They say their goodbyes to the other expedition members, Kerr thanking them time and again for helping him, and making the whole project such an unforgettable experience. He even goes so far as to agree to sign up for the follow up project next year.
Jensen talks with Dr. Kripke about the organization of his modules at UA, and then says his goodbyes as well. The two Stanford academics leave their companions behind and take a cab to the airport. The drive is spent talking (Kerr) or silently listening (Jensen). Knowing how impressive it is to immersed in what one only knows the theory, Jensen patiently plays audience to his TA’s excited recapture of their trip.
At the airport they check in the bags and make for the duty free area. They are more than an hour early, but after hiking through snow covered wilderness, and having spent the last hours on a plane that usually transports cargo, they both appreciate the possibility to just sit down somewhere, drink and eat a snack, and just reconnect with civilization.
The first place they pilgrimage to is Starbucks. Armed with bagels, walnut scones and two large lattes, they sit down in the corner furthest in the back, and start eating the first food in days that is not prepared in tins.
After having finished their meal, Kerr says he wants to look around for a present for his parents and his sister, and they agree to meet up at the terminal once the plane can be boarded. With his companion gone, Jensen gets another coffee (a double espresso), and grabs the nearest newspaper. He catches up to the latest developments all around the world and enjoys the hustle and bustle that is the Edmonton airport.
Once the newspaper is read and the coffee is drained, Jensen gets up and starts his own walk around the duty free area. He browses through shops, and gets a postcard with the picture of a caribou on it. The writing on it just says, ‘I’ve met the love of my life in Canada’. It’s perfect for Danneel. Jensen has the sneaking suspicion that she’s got something going on with Richard, the TA.
She’s never said anything of the likes, but Jensen just can’t help the feeling he gets. Even if he’s wrong, he likes the message the card gives.
At the cashiers of the book shop, he grabs a newspaper and a magazine. It’s just a gossip rag, but there’s Jared’s name in bright letters on the cover. Jensen will tease him about the stories that are printed in it.
His purchases made, Jensen spends the rest of the time, until it’s time to board the plane, strolling around and watching people. It amuses him how some of travelers are all excited about the prospect of getting to fly somewhere.
Passing by a sports store, he browses through the backpacks. His own got caught in the track of the snow mobile, and as a result has a long tear down the side. Jensen did some makeshift repairs on it, but there’s no way that the pack will ever by functional again.
He finds a nice backpack from McKinley. It’s of good quality and is equipped to be used for climbing as well. The price is not so nice, but after thinking about it for a minute or two, Jensen pays for the bag, and leaves the shop before he decides he needs something else as well.
By the time his flight is announced and there’s the call for the passengers to board, Jensen’s seen everything there is to see. The new backpack is in a plastic bag, his post card in his coat pocket, and Jensen has the newspaper and the magazine under his arm. He meets Kerr at the terminal, and together they get on the plane.
Settled down in their seats, and having just finished watching the onboard video about emergency procedures, Jensen and Kerr fasten their seatbelts. Soon after, the plane heads for the runway, the feeling of defying gravity and leaving the ground behind something Jensen finds amazing every time he flies.
The first forty to fifty minutes Kerr keeps telling Jensen what he bought, and why he picked it for that particular person. Then, almost like a switch being flipped, he’s out of energy, and he falls asleep. Jensen isn’t really tired and he wants to read some more before catching a couple of zeds himself.
At first he reads the newspaper, but he soon loses interest and exchanges it for the glossy paper of the gossip magazine. There are pictures of stars and starlets on the front page, and ever since the press debacle in summer Jensen can’t help but wonder how much is true about what is written in the magazine.
He searches for the article about Jared, and when he finds it, he wishes he hadn’t. There are photos of Jared on the beach, the beach at his house. But what gets to Jensen is the person with Jared. Playing with Sadie and Harley alongside Jared is a petite woman. If Jensen squints, she looks like a crossing between Alexis Bledel and Sandra McCoy.
Her dark hair is blown in her face and she’s laughing happily at Jared, who’s goofing around. Seeing Jared this happy, and all without any help of Jensen, is like a stab into his chest. True, they have been working at finding more time to call and to see, but their jobs are getting into their way more often than not.
The last time he had seen Jared, had been when he had driven all the way from LA to San Francisco to visit Jensen. They had had a great time, but somehow Jensen can’t help thinking that Jared’s laughter in the photo is brighter, more relaxed than the one he remembers from the stay.
After staring numbly at the photos, because there are more of them (some of them are of Jared and the woman at some coffee shop), Jensen forces himself to read the article that is printed in between the pictures. He makes it no further than the third paragraph, before the tales of Jared and Genevieve Cortese, and their flirting gets too much for him. He folds the magazine, stuffing it into the newspaper net of the seat in front of him.
Jensen wants, he doesn’t really know. He has to deal with the shock of seeing the photos first before he can decide on what he wants. Jensen knows where this will be heading; he’s been there only half a year ago. Jared likes to proposition people he’s being photographed with.
Thinking about Jared and the strange woman has his head hurt, and Jensen turns to the window and looks out at the clouds below them.
continue: Part Three
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: 2,994 (6,195)
Summary: What does it take to break you? (Of betrayals and broken trust)
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, Avalanches Approaching and Crevasse Rescue.
[ Masterpost]
Part Two
After Christmas Jensen and Jared start to reconnect. They still see each other only once every couple of weeks, mostly due to Jared’s insane schedule, but they are talking on the phone and Jared even drives up with the dogs after his stint as the host of the Oscars. Jensen starts to forget about the worries that had been eating at him during November and December, and he enjoys the time he gets to spend with Jared.
His first semester as a teacher wraps up and Jensen agrees to stay for spring as well, even tentatively talking about next fall. Dean Madsen is happy about keeping her glaciology expert and the EESS department is slowly being restructured to create a branch of Polar Environmental Systems.
The agreement to an extension of his work at Stanford has also the effect that he can finally really settle down. Even though he had bought and restored the house, the uncertainty about what will happen once the semester is over. Now he knows that he’s going to stay.
In his second semester at Stanford, Jensen teaches two courses and a seminar, and he asks Kerr to take on the job of being his TA. The young man is beside himself with happiness, and promises to spend all his time on helping his professor with the increased workload.
Tom and Mike tease him about the crush the student has on Jensen. Every time he tries to defend Kerr’s actions, they cackle and tease Jensen some more about the true love at the EESS department. In the end Jensen opts to ignore their jokes. The more he protests the longer they will keep going on about it.
Shortly before Spring Break, David calls him and tells him about an AE meeting about their summer project. Jensen offers to meet at Stanford, so Chuck can participate as well. The other professor has been asking him nonstop about the progress of the expedition.
So, when Jensen packs his bags for the trip up North to the Northwest Territories, his private and work life have reached a summit that has Jensen content and happy. Even the loss of living in the midst of snow and ice is easily born if he’s this pleased with everything.
Kerr travels for the first time so far North, and the last two weeks before their departure he constantly checks with Jensen about appropriate attire and gear for their expedition. Never before has Jensen been so up-to-date (all the time) on weather conditions and travel details. His TA informs him daily, if not semi-daily, about changes (or the lack of changes).
Dean is staying with Mike and Tom this time. Jensen wanted to take the husky with him, but it was decided that traveling will be done by snow mobiles and not by dog sleds. It would only be a hindrance for the group, and it would be uncomfortable for the dog as well, if Jensen insisted on bringing Dean.
Mike is actually the one who takes Jensen to the airport. He’s insisted on it, in the hopes of meeting Jensen’s TA. Mike has been accusing Jensen of keeping the young man from them. Truthfully, Jensen has done his best to keep Tom and Mike from getting Kerr in their fingers. This is one experience the student wouldn’t recover from.
When his friend meets the young man, he pretends to be a normal human being (unlike the crazy person he), and curiously asks about Kerr’s field experience and hope for this trip.
Jensen ignores Mike and Kerr in the favor of calling Jared before they leave. Since he will be without reception for the next two weeks. Jared had said that he would be at work (some kind of photo shoot and a short promo movie), but he picks up after just two rings.
“Hey!” Jared is slightly breathless.
“Hi. Am I interrupting?” Jensen keeps an eye on Mike and Kerr, noticing the ‘friendly’ arm Mike has around the other’s shoulder. Knowing his friend so well, he knows that Mike is up to something.
The next time Mike glances over at Jensen, he glares threateningly at his friend, but Mike just grins and turns back to Kerr.
“Naw, we’re on a break because there’s some trouble with the lights.” Jensen can hear Jared closing a door. “I’m actually in my room. I get to leave them arguing about spotlights, shades of light, and anything else light related .”
Jared’s words have him laugh. Jensen feels warmth spreading in his chest as he thinks about Jared and the way he has become so important to him.
“Well, that sounds really serious.” He turns away from Kerr and Mike to keep the latter from prying into Jensen’s call. All of his friends, Chris, Danneel, Mike, and Tom, hadn’t been too happy about Jensen’s willingness to forget about Jared’s indifference and coldness. They had argued that Jensen is going too easy on Jared, and that he’ll eventually have to pay for it.
But Jensen refuses to carry a grudge. He likes spending time with Jared (conversationally and physically) and it goes against everything he is, to keep his distance, just to prove a point. Besides, he’s got faith in Jared. Jensen believes that he has realized how hurtful his actions had been, and that he’ll refrain from repeating the mistakes he made.
“Yeah.” Jared snorts amused. “Like you won’t believe. So, you already at the airport?”
“Just arrived. Mike drove me, and he’s torturing my TA.” Though, from the looks of it, Kerr enjoys talking with Mike though. At least he doesn’t have this frightened look in his eyes that some people get when they meet Mike for the first time.
“Your friends are weird.” At that Jensen cringes. He knows that it’s somewhat his fault that Jared and his friends never met, but he doesn’t understand where the dislike comes from. It’s not like they ever had the chance to have a disagreement in the first place.
“D’you still have the time to visit once I’m back from the trip?” Jensen really hopes that Jared won’t sign some last minute contract, and be gone for weeks, without seeing him.
“Things look good for everything to stay the same. I haven’t heard anything about changes in shooting schedules, and I forbade my agent and my PR agent under pain of death, to schedule me for something extra in that time.” Even though most of the time Jared’s agent and/or his PR guy don’t particularly care about Jared’s demands where time and schedules are concerned, they know that some things Jared is very adamant about.
“Great.” When he turns back to check in Mike and Kerr, he finds them watching him. Mike points at his watch. “I have to go, but I’ll call you once I’m back in California.”
“You do that.” Jensen says his goodbye to Jared, and once he’s put away his phone, they make for the check in. It’s there that Mike leaves them, and after checking in their bags, the two of them head for the duty free area and the terminal.
Much to Jensen’s embarrassment they are actually the last passengers to board, and once they’re on the plane, the starting procedures start. Jensen and Kerr go to their seats and after the take off they grab some more sleep. They’ll need it in the days to come.
They change planes in Vancouver, where they take some kind of twin engine transport aircraft up to the meeting point. Dr. Kripke and his students will be coming up from Edmonton, and the two students from the Scott Polar Institute will arrive from London (Jensen doesn’t even want to know how often they have to change planes to get to their destination).
When they left in San Francisco, they wore sweaters and coats, nothing too warm. The closer they get to the North, the colder it gets. Sitting in a plane that is far from luxurious, they are soon freezing, and they change behind crates into their gear.
The pilot wishes them good luck when they part at the small airfield in the middle of nowhere. The only other person is a guy in heavy gear, waving at them. Jensen and Kerr lug their bags over to the stranger.
As it turns out, the guy is their local guide for the expedition. Michael lives in the nearest village, which is about a hundred miles to the east, and he likes to talk about what everyone thought and said about the group of scientists coming up here. Apparently, they are the most exciting thing that has happened to the community in a long time.
Kerr is constantly shivering, not being used to the cold. Jensen has to realize that he’s grown soft ever since he moved to California. A year ago he would have smiled at the temperature of this place, calling it ‘nice’, but now he finds that he could do with another shirt himself.
Their little gathering has to wait for an hour before another plane touches down, and a group of fifteen people get out. Apparently the British joined the rest of the group earlier on in Edmonton. Michael waves at the newcomers and he’s smiling happily at the people making their way over the snow covered expanse to the trio waiting for them.
Michael jokes about city slickers being unused to the life up in the North, and he calls Dr. Kripke ‘sir’. This has the professor’s students grin at each other.
During the first days of their trek the humor and good mood of their guide is of great importance. The students are growing tired easily, and people like Kerr are constantly freezing. They have calculated odds like these, and the two teachers change their route, conferring with their guide about the difficulty of the altered route.
At first the students want to complain about the change in plans, but after the fourth day, they are only too happy about the shorter version of the trek.
The final destination is an ice cave that they are to explore a little, and bring some preliminary data home . While students and TAs are collecting samples and measuring the cavern, Michael shows Dr. Kripke and Jensen around, and they decide there and then to return the next year. There’s far too much to discover in the short amount of time they have.
On their way back from the cave to the airfield one of the British students hurts her leg when she wanders off from the camp, and steps onto a snow-covered patch of ice. She slips and twists her ankle. It’s Kerr who finds her and helps the student back to the camp.
The accident, and the girl’s incapability of walking, slows them down. However, with the help of the snow mobiles, they make it back to the meeting point in time.
Unlike their travel to the starting point, the group departs from their final destination by a small plane that takes them to Edmonton. Jensen and Kerr have to take their flight back to San Francisco from there.
They say their goodbyes to the other expedition members, Kerr thanking them time and again for helping him, and making the whole project such an unforgettable experience. He even goes so far as to agree to sign up for the follow up project next year.
Jensen talks with Dr. Kripke about the organization of his modules at UA, and then says his goodbyes as well. The two Stanford academics leave their companions behind and take a cab to the airport. The drive is spent talking (Kerr) or silently listening (Jensen). Knowing how impressive it is to immersed in what one only knows the theory, Jensen patiently plays audience to his TA’s excited recapture of their trip.
At the airport they check in the bags and make for the duty free area. They are more than an hour early, but after hiking through snow covered wilderness, and having spent the last hours on a plane that usually transports cargo, they both appreciate the possibility to just sit down somewhere, drink and eat a snack, and just reconnect with civilization.
The first place they pilgrimage to is Starbucks. Armed with bagels, walnut scones and two large lattes, they sit down in the corner furthest in the back, and start eating the first food in days that is not prepared in tins.
After having finished their meal, Kerr says he wants to look around for a present for his parents and his sister, and they agree to meet up at the terminal once the plane can be boarded. With his companion gone, Jensen gets another coffee (a double espresso), and grabs the nearest newspaper. He catches up to the latest developments all around the world and enjoys the hustle and bustle that is the Edmonton airport.
Once the newspaper is read and the coffee is drained, Jensen gets up and starts his own walk around the duty free area. He browses through shops, and gets a postcard with the picture of a caribou on it. The writing on it just says, ‘I’ve met the love of my life in Canada’. It’s perfect for Danneel. Jensen has the sneaking suspicion that she’s got something going on with Richard, the TA.
She’s never said anything of the likes, but Jensen just can’t help the feeling he gets. Even if he’s wrong, he likes the message the card gives.
At the cashiers of the book shop, he grabs a newspaper and a magazine. It’s just a gossip rag, but there’s Jared’s name in bright letters on the cover. Jensen will tease him about the stories that are printed in it.
His purchases made, Jensen spends the rest of the time, until it’s time to board the plane, strolling around and watching people. It amuses him how some of travelers are all excited about the prospect of getting to fly somewhere.
Passing by a sports store, he browses through the backpacks. His own got caught in the track of the snow mobile, and as a result has a long tear down the side. Jensen did some makeshift repairs on it, but there’s no way that the pack will ever by functional again.
He finds a nice backpack from McKinley. It’s of good quality and is equipped to be used for climbing as well. The price is not so nice, but after thinking about it for a minute or two, Jensen pays for the bag, and leaves the shop before he decides he needs something else as well.
By the time his flight is announced and there’s the call for the passengers to board, Jensen’s seen everything there is to see. The new backpack is in a plastic bag, his post card in his coat pocket, and Jensen has the newspaper and the magazine under his arm. He meets Kerr at the terminal, and together they get on the plane.
Settled down in their seats, and having just finished watching the onboard video about emergency procedures, Jensen and Kerr fasten their seatbelts. Soon after, the plane heads for the runway, the feeling of defying gravity and leaving the ground behind something Jensen finds amazing every time he flies.
The first forty to fifty minutes Kerr keeps telling Jensen what he bought, and why he picked it for that particular person. Then, almost like a switch being flipped, he’s out of energy, and he falls asleep. Jensen isn’t really tired and he wants to read some more before catching a couple of zeds himself.
At first he reads the newspaper, but he soon loses interest and exchanges it for the glossy paper of the gossip magazine. There are pictures of stars and starlets on the front page, and ever since the press debacle in summer Jensen can’t help but wonder how much is true about what is written in the magazine.
He searches for the article about Jared, and when he finds it, he wishes he hadn’t. There are photos of Jared on the beach, the beach at his house. But what gets to Jensen is the person with Jared. Playing with Sadie and Harley alongside Jared is a petite woman. If Jensen squints, she looks like a crossing between Alexis Bledel and Sandra McCoy.
Her dark hair is blown in her face and she’s laughing happily at Jared, who’s goofing around. Seeing Jared this happy, and all without any help of Jensen, is like a stab into his chest. True, they have been working at finding more time to call and to see, but their jobs are getting into their way more often than not.
The last time he had seen Jared, had been when he had driven all the way from LA to San Francisco to visit Jensen. They had had a great time, but somehow Jensen can’t help thinking that Jared’s laughter in the photo is brighter, more relaxed than the one he remembers from the stay.
After staring numbly at the photos, because there are more of them (some of them are of Jared and the woman at some coffee shop), Jensen forces himself to read the article that is printed in between the pictures. He makes it no further than the third paragraph, before the tales of Jared and Genevieve Cortese, and their flirting gets too much for him. He folds the magazine, stuffing it into the newspaper net of the seat in front of him.
Jensen wants, he doesn’t really know. He has to deal with the shock of seeing the photos first before he can decide on what he wants. Jensen knows where this will be heading; he’s been there only half a year ago. Jared likes to proposition people he’s being photographed with.
Thinking about Jared and the strange woman has his head hurt, and Jensen turns to the window and looks out at the clouds below them.
continue: Part Three