Smoke & Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder [36/?]
MASTER POST
Title: Smoke And Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder (36/?)
Authors: bloody_adorable and eviltwin
Fandoms: Supernatural RPS
Pairing: Jensen Ackles / Jared Padalecki.
Rating: PG.
Wordcount: 2,794
Summary: AU. Jared's a classic case of rich kid gone wrong, whose only sense of family comes from his motorbike, the guy he rents a garage from to live in and the precinct cops who know his face better than most already. Jensen's a hard-working student whose family are helping push him towards great things. What happens when their two worlds collide, and will Jared's troublesome nature be too much for Jensen to handle?
Disclaimer: None of the following is true in any way, and no profit is made from this work of fiction.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Jensen felt like no matter how fast he walked, no matter how far he walked, the hospital corridor stretched on for eternity. He wanted to reach out his arms and try to grab for anything, something to pull him closer to the Emergency Room, while another part of him wanted to turn tail and run. If it was Jared that was hurt -- and he knew it had to be -- he wasn't sure he could face it.
Shelly, the main office secretary, had said that it sounded like Jeffrey on the phone. But the call cut in and out too much for her to really identify the person talking. She got enough that led her to Stevie and the Saint Elizabeth's emergency room. She had called down to Stevie's room, told her what she'd heard and Stevie asked her to find out where Jensen was. She looked up the young man's schedule, found him in the science lab, and told Stevie to go; she would cover the class until a substitute could be found.
The emergency room was nothing like what television made it out to be. Generally, it was quiet. More than likely, it had its bouts of stress and chaos, but in the middle of the day, nothing was going on. The waiting room was nearly dead-silent, which sent a shiver down Jensen's spine. He felt Stevie's hand tighten on his when they saw a familiar figure sitting in a waiting room chair, his back to them.
"Jensen," she said, her voice cracking.
Jensen turned to meet her eyes, the furrow creasing his brow permanently, he was sure. He nodded his head at her, swallowing hard. They looked back over to who was sitting in the ER chair, finding him already turned and spying upon them.
Jared stood from his seat. He had a dirt bike racing magazine curled into a tube in his hand, the corners of the pages worn and ripped. His eyes were red, but he wouldn't ever admit to having been crying, Jensen knew. He seemed unsure what to do, really, just gazing over at them. He wanted to run to Jensen for comfort, to feel the man's arms holding him tightly. But he also wanted to grab Stevie and hold her close, for it was Jeffrey that was in the operating room right then and there.
"He's okay," he finally managed, watching them step closer.
"Jared," Stevie said. She hadn’t realized she had found the ability to walk again, but found herself near him. She made his mind up for him and nearly yanked him closer, clinging to him. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," he said into her hair. "I am."
She pulled away from him to look up into his eyes. "What happened?" she asked. "I got a call that said there'd been an accident."
"Who called you?"
"I don't know, they called the office," she said. "Shelly said the call kept cutting in and out. What's going on, where is Jeff?"
"He's back there," Jared returned, nodding towards the swinging doors that closed off the ER to the waiting room. "The doctor was out once already. He's pretty banged up, and they think his leg is broken in three places."
"Oh, my God," she breathed.
"But they think he's going to be okay," he continued. He squeezed at her shoulders, making sure she was listening to him. When she nodded, he loosened his grip on her. "He had a pretty deep cut on his head, they said, so they're checking him out for a concussion and stuff. I don't know how they're going to set the leg."
"They'll probably have to do surgery," Jensen interjected. "With it broken in three places..."
"How?" Stevie asked. "I mean... How?"
Jared nodded. "A guy was talking on his cell phone, not paying attention and crossed over the median," he explained. "He hit Jeff head-on."
Stevie lost the strength in her legs. "Oh, God," she whispered as she was guided down to a chair. She felt Jared's arm around her, holding her up, and Jensen's hand rubbing at her back, trying to comfort her. Right then, however, the only comfort she wanted to get was from Jeffrey. She wanted to see his smiling eyes and hear his raucous laughter. She knew she loved him, and the accident proved to her that she couldn't live without him. She needed him.
The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting in the waiting room, punctuated by occasional runs to the cafeteria or the coffee machine on the third floor -- the only one that really worked. Since Jensen and Stevie had been pulled out of school for the emergency, they'd both missed lunch. Stevie swore she couldn't eat, but when they returned with a sandwich and chips, she ate most of what they had gotten for her. Since he had the most medical knowledge any questions were fielded to Jensen. He answered as clearly and concisely as he could, without trying to cause undue stress and worry.
Time seemed to both slow and fly. They had lost track of the hours, and when they did the math, it seemed impossible. Jared took off a number of times, tracking down someone that could tell him what was going on. It was rare that he came back without some sort of news, even if it was made up, just to settle Stevie's nerves.
By the time a doctor emerged to see them, Stevie had fallen asleep in one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. She was on her feet in a flash, however, asking how Jeffrey was before the doctor could even explain.
"He's doing fine," he smiled, raising a hand to calm her. "He's resting in the recovery room right now. We had to go in and put a couple of titanium pins in his left leg. That side took the most damage."
"Oh, my God," she whimpered.
"No, no," the doctor said. "That's a good thing. They'll keep his leg straight and help his bone to fuse back together. He has a laceration on his head that we stapled back together. He has a couple bruised ribs, and some glass fragments had to be removed from a couple spots on his face, but overall, he's a very lucky man."
"When can we see him?" Jared asked, his arm around Stevie's shoulders.
"Soon," the doctor said to him. "Give him time to wake up and get oriented, and then we'll let you in to see him."
"Thank you, doctor," Stevie called as the man turned to go. She watched him smile and nod, and then head back into the ER. Strength sapped, Stevie sat down in her chair again, cradling her head in her hands.
"He's okay," Jensen said to her, rubbing at her back again.
"Jeff's too much of a rotten bastard to leave us anyway," Jared chuckled.
She didn't think she felt like laughing, so when she heard her own giggle, it surprised her. She looked over at Jared, and then to Jensen. She opened her arms and pulled both boys closer to her. They were her support team, and she wanted to let them know that they were making a damn good job of it.
The room was semi-private, but no other patient was currently slotted in Bed 2 in Jeffrey's room. Thankful for the privacy they had together, Stevie coaxed the nurses into letting Jared and Jensen come in with her. She wanted to see Jeffrey, but she wasn't sure what the sight of him, broken and battered in a hospital bed, would do to her. She went into the room first, and her breath caught in her throat. Jared and Jensen filed in behind her and they all stood at a distance, staring.
Jeffrey was on oxygen. "Just a precaution," the nurses had said. "His breathing is shallow, and it sets off one of the monitors we have on him. We don't want it to keep waking him up, so we've put the O2 on him."
His forehead was bruised and pock-marked with little red cuts where glass had imbedded into his skin. His beard-stubbled face was pale, and his hair was a mess. They hadn't shaved his head to staple closed the cut on his head, so that contributed to the tousled look. Stevie could see, just barely, a bruise on his shoulder where the seat belt strap -- one that he had installed himself in the old muscle car -- had nearly cut into him. She knew that, underneath the hospital gown, his ribs were wrapped, and underneath the blankets, his leg was probably a mess.
Nearing the bed, she reached for him, uncovering his left foot. She saw a white plastic covering that started at his toes and, upon further inspection, ran the length of his leg. Through it, air hissed constantly. "What's this for?" she asked, panic lacing her voice.
"It's to keep blood flowing," Jensen told her. "They don't want a clot."
"Oh."
"Here, Stevie," Jared said. There was a chair standing by the wall; he moved it closer to her. When she was seated, he moved over to Jensen, standing behind him, and lacing his arms around the young man's waist. He rested his chin on Jensen's shoulder and sighed.
Earlier that morning, Jared had been up with Jensen. Harry had called the previous night, to tell Jared that parts for one of Eric's bikes -- another Ducati -- had come in. It was the last bike he had to fix as payment for Jensen's ink. Jared wanted to get working on the bike and finish it up for the tattooist, so he told Harry he would be in first thing to get the parts.
"Jay," Jeffrey had said in a stern voice, "it's the middle of fucking January."
"And?"
"Don't ride your damn bike."
"Why not?"
"Because, genius," Jeffrey had continued, "the roads were icy last night."
"It's morning."
"It's cold."
"Jeff, I'll be fine."
"Jared, the bike isn't safe."
Jared had sighed, put on his helmet and waved to his adoptive father.
"I'm taking Jensen!" Jeffrey had called over the sound of the garage door opening. He watched Jared nod his head and start the motorcycle, revving the engine a couple of times before rolling out of the garage and into the street.
Jared knew, without even looking, that Jeffrey was shaking his head, a stern look on his face that said, "You’ll see. When you spill the bike, you'll come tell me that I was right."
Standing there in the hospital room, Jared wished that he could tell Jeffrey just that. For some reason, he believed that it should be him there lying in the bed. Jeffrey should be able to come into the room and say, "See, kid? Listen to your old man next time."
As if reading his thoughts, Jeffrey's eyes fluttered open. Stevie couldn't have stopped the flow of tears if she'd been threatened with her own mortality. Almost instantly, Jeffrey's gaze landed on her. He moved the mask with the oxygen away from his mouth, then smiled and weakly reached for her, the heart monitor closed around his index finger. "Hey, baby," he greeted in a very hoarse voice.
"You big jerk," she said tearfully, taking hold of his hand. "It's a good thing you're laying down, 'cause I have half a mind to kick your ass."
He chuckled, winced in pain, and looked at her again. "I'm sorry I scared you," he apologized. "Wasn't on my to-do list today."
"What happened?"
Slowly, he shook his head, eyes blinking heavily. "Don't remember much, baby," he told her. "It was just an accident."
She jumped to her feet and put her arms around him, mindful of his bruised ribs and stapled head. She kissed his neck, his cheek, and then his mouth, whispering to him how much she loved him. He didn't verbally return the sentiment. Instead, he met her eyes, his own sparkling, and smiled at her. He saw Jared and Jensen at the foot of his bed and grinned down at them.
"Get over here, you little punk," he said.
Jared let go of Jensen and moved around the other side of the hospital bed. He leaned down to give Jeffrey a hug, but before he did, he winked at him. "You're right," he said. "The bike was way more dangerous than the car."
"Shut up," Jeffrey snapped, albeit lovingly. "I might be busted up, but I can still kick your ass. Give your old man a hug."
Jared finally did as was asked of him. At the back of his head, he felt Jeffrey's fingers curl into a fist, forcibly holding Jared there for a little longer than usual. Not that he really had to. Jared had never pulled out of an embrace from Jeffrey. Let go, Jared looked down at Jeffrey and smiled.
"Don't do that again," he told him.
Jeffrey nodded. "Noted." As Jared backed away, Jeffrey's gaze fell to Jensen. "Don't think you're getting out of this that easy, Jensen."
Smiling, Jensen shook his head. "No, sir," he said. He watched Jeffrey wave him closer and then took Jared's place by the bed. He leaned down and gave Jeffrey a hug, receiving one back just as Jared had. He was made to stay in the embrace for a little longer than usual, and then set free.
"Now get out," Jeffrey declared. "I need to talk to my girl."
"Hey," Jared complained. "You were just in a damn car accident. We should get to visit you for a few minutes."
"Jared, we have some things to figure out."
"Like what?"
Jeffrey almost sighed. "Like what the hell we're going to do about money," he said. "I only have so many sick days left, kiddo."
"I'll get a job."
He shook his head. "We've already been down that road," he refused. "Ain't no garage that has job openings right now."
Jared shrugged his shoulders. "I'll talk to Rock," he offered. "Bartend."
"Oh, Jesus."
"What, you think I can't pour a goddamn drink?"
"It depends on how many you're drinking while you try."
"Oh, shut up," he said with a smile.
"We'll figure out something, Jeff," Jensen interrupted.
"Yeah, let's not worry about money right now," Stevie agreed. "Let's just get you home and feeling better first."
Jeffrey gave in, taking somewhat of a deep breath, wincing at his bruised ribs and then softly sighed. "Alright," he agreed. "But I still want you out. I need to talk to Stevie alone."
Jared still wouldn't give in. "We're a family, Jeffrey."
Jeffrey's heart swelled with love. It was going to be a while before he was even close to good old Jeff. He knew there was lots of healing, lots of physical therapy, and lots of time before that happened. He was going to need his family more than ever during all of that. "Yes, we are, kid," he agreed. "I'm glad you finally see it that way. And right now the Ma and Pa part of the family need to talk."
"So talk."
"We're going to talk about sex and how much we adore each other."
"I'm outta here," Jared declared. He grabbed hold of Jensen's hand and pulled him out of the room with him.
"'Bye!" Jensen called before he was yanked out of the room.
When they were gone, and the door had swung closed, Stevie looked over at Jeffrey. She wanted to set a hand to his forehead, brush his tousled hair back from his face, but she didn't, afraid that she would cause more pain. Instead, she brought his hand to her face and kissed his palm.
"Hey," he smiled. He patted the right side of the bed. "Come up here."
"No," she refused. "I'm fine here."
"I ain't gonna break," he told her.
"I beg to differ," she laughed.
He patted the bed again. "Come on," he encouraged. "Please?"
Reluctantly, Stevie gave in. She moved around to the opposite side of the bed and gingerly crawled up onto the mattress with him. He put his arm around her and held her close, his cheek rested against the top of her head. "Do me a favor?"
She propped herself up on an elbow, looking over at him. "I'm sorry, am I hurting you?" she asked.
"No," he replied, shaking his head. "Do you think...?”
She waited for him to continue, but he didn't. "Do I think what?" she asked.
He smiled. "Do you think you could marry me, maybe?"
It took a moment for her smile to emerge, but when it did, it was bright enough to light up the room. She nodded her head and giggled softly. "Maybe."
--TBC--
Title: Smoke And Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder (36/?)
Authors: bloody_adorable and eviltwin
Fandoms: Supernatural RPS
Pairing: Jensen Ackles / Jared Padalecki.
Rating: PG.
Wordcount: 2,794
Summary: AU. Jared's a classic case of rich kid gone wrong, whose only sense of family comes from his motorbike, the guy he rents a garage from to live in and the precinct cops who know his face better than most already. Jensen's a hard-working student whose family are helping push him towards great things. What happens when their two worlds collide, and will Jared's troublesome nature be too much for Jensen to handle?
Disclaimer: None of the following is true in any way, and no profit is made from this work of fiction.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Jensen felt like no matter how fast he walked, no matter how far he walked, the hospital corridor stretched on for eternity. He wanted to reach out his arms and try to grab for anything, something to pull him closer to the Emergency Room, while another part of him wanted to turn tail and run. If it was Jared that was hurt -- and he knew it had to be -- he wasn't sure he could face it.
Shelly, the main office secretary, had said that it sounded like Jeffrey on the phone. But the call cut in and out too much for her to really identify the person talking. She got enough that led her to Stevie and the Saint Elizabeth's emergency room. She had called down to Stevie's room, told her what she'd heard and Stevie asked her to find out where Jensen was. She looked up the young man's schedule, found him in the science lab, and told Stevie to go; she would cover the class until a substitute could be found.
The emergency room was nothing like what television made it out to be. Generally, it was quiet. More than likely, it had its bouts of stress and chaos, but in the middle of the day, nothing was going on. The waiting room was nearly dead-silent, which sent a shiver down Jensen's spine. He felt Stevie's hand tighten on his when they saw a familiar figure sitting in a waiting room chair, his back to them.
"Jensen," she said, her voice cracking.
Jensen turned to meet her eyes, the furrow creasing his brow permanently, he was sure. He nodded his head at her, swallowing hard. They looked back over to who was sitting in the ER chair, finding him already turned and spying upon them.
Jared stood from his seat. He had a dirt bike racing magazine curled into a tube in his hand, the corners of the pages worn and ripped. His eyes were red, but he wouldn't ever admit to having been crying, Jensen knew. He seemed unsure what to do, really, just gazing over at them. He wanted to run to Jensen for comfort, to feel the man's arms holding him tightly. But he also wanted to grab Stevie and hold her close, for it was Jeffrey that was in the operating room right then and there.
"He's okay," he finally managed, watching them step closer.
"Jared," Stevie said. She hadn’t realized she had found the ability to walk again, but found herself near him. She made his mind up for him and nearly yanked him closer, clinging to him. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," he said into her hair. "I am."
She pulled away from him to look up into his eyes. "What happened?" she asked. "I got a call that said there'd been an accident."
"Who called you?"
"I don't know, they called the office," she said. "Shelly said the call kept cutting in and out. What's going on, where is Jeff?"
"He's back there," Jared returned, nodding towards the swinging doors that closed off the ER to the waiting room. "The doctor was out once already. He's pretty banged up, and they think his leg is broken in three places."
"Oh, my God," she breathed.
"But they think he's going to be okay," he continued. He squeezed at her shoulders, making sure she was listening to him. When she nodded, he loosened his grip on her. "He had a pretty deep cut on his head, they said, so they're checking him out for a concussion and stuff. I don't know how they're going to set the leg."
"They'll probably have to do surgery," Jensen interjected. "With it broken in three places..."
"How?" Stevie asked. "I mean... How?"
Jared nodded. "A guy was talking on his cell phone, not paying attention and crossed over the median," he explained. "He hit Jeff head-on."
Stevie lost the strength in her legs. "Oh, God," she whispered as she was guided down to a chair. She felt Jared's arm around her, holding her up, and Jensen's hand rubbing at her back, trying to comfort her. Right then, however, the only comfort she wanted to get was from Jeffrey. She wanted to see his smiling eyes and hear his raucous laughter. She knew she loved him, and the accident proved to her that she couldn't live without him. She needed him.
The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting in the waiting room, punctuated by occasional runs to the cafeteria or the coffee machine on the third floor -- the only one that really worked. Since Jensen and Stevie had been pulled out of school for the emergency, they'd both missed lunch. Stevie swore she couldn't eat, but when they returned with a sandwich and chips, she ate most of what they had gotten for her. Since he had the most medical knowledge any questions were fielded to Jensen. He answered as clearly and concisely as he could, without trying to cause undue stress and worry.
Time seemed to both slow and fly. They had lost track of the hours, and when they did the math, it seemed impossible. Jared took off a number of times, tracking down someone that could tell him what was going on. It was rare that he came back without some sort of news, even if it was made up, just to settle Stevie's nerves.
By the time a doctor emerged to see them, Stevie had fallen asleep in one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. She was on her feet in a flash, however, asking how Jeffrey was before the doctor could even explain.
"He's doing fine," he smiled, raising a hand to calm her. "He's resting in the recovery room right now. We had to go in and put a couple of titanium pins in his left leg. That side took the most damage."
"Oh, my God," she whimpered.
"No, no," the doctor said. "That's a good thing. They'll keep his leg straight and help his bone to fuse back together. He has a laceration on his head that we stapled back together. He has a couple bruised ribs, and some glass fragments had to be removed from a couple spots on his face, but overall, he's a very lucky man."
"When can we see him?" Jared asked, his arm around Stevie's shoulders.
"Soon," the doctor said to him. "Give him time to wake up and get oriented, and then we'll let you in to see him."
"Thank you, doctor," Stevie called as the man turned to go. She watched him smile and nod, and then head back into the ER. Strength sapped, Stevie sat down in her chair again, cradling her head in her hands.
"He's okay," Jensen said to her, rubbing at her back again.
"Jeff's too much of a rotten bastard to leave us anyway," Jared chuckled.
She didn't think she felt like laughing, so when she heard her own giggle, it surprised her. She looked over at Jared, and then to Jensen. She opened her arms and pulled both boys closer to her. They were her support team, and she wanted to let them know that they were making a damn good job of it.
The room was semi-private, but no other patient was currently slotted in Bed 2 in Jeffrey's room. Thankful for the privacy they had together, Stevie coaxed the nurses into letting Jared and Jensen come in with her. She wanted to see Jeffrey, but she wasn't sure what the sight of him, broken and battered in a hospital bed, would do to her. She went into the room first, and her breath caught in her throat. Jared and Jensen filed in behind her and they all stood at a distance, staring.
Jeffrey was on oxygen. "Just a precaution," the nurses had said. "His breathing is shallow, and it sets off one of the monitors we have on him. We don't want it to keep waking him up, so we've put the O2 on him."
His forehead was bruised and pock-marked with little red cuts where glass had imbedded into his skin. His beard-stubbled face was pale, and his hair was a mess. They hadn't shaved his head to staple closed the cut on his head, so that contributed to the tousled look. Stevie could see, just barely, a bruise on his shoulder where the seat belt strap -- one that he had installed himself in the old muscle car -- had nearly cut into him. She knew that, underneath the hospital gown, his ribs were wrapped, and underneath the blankets, his leg was probably a mess.
Nearing the bed, she reached for him, uncovering his left foot. She saw a white plastic covering that started at his toes and, upon further inspection, ran the length of his leg. Through it, air hissed constantly. "What's this for?" she asked, panic lacing her voice.
"It's to keep blood flowing," Jensen told her. "They don't want a clot."
"Oh."
"Here, Stevie," Jared said. There was a chair standing by the wall; he moved it closer to her. When she was seated, he moved over to Jensen, standing behind him, and lacing his arms around the young man's waist. He rested his chin on Jensen's shoulder and sighed.
Earlier that morning, Jared had been up with Jensen. Harry had called the previous night, to tell Jared that parts for one of Eric's bikes -- another Ducati -- had come in. It was the last bike he had to fix as payment for Jensen's ink. Jared wanted to get working on the bike and finish it up for the tattooist, so he told Harry he would be in first thing to get the parts.
"Jay," Jeffrey had said in a stern voice, "it's the middle of fucking January."
"And?"
"Don't ride your damn bike."
"Why not?"
"Because, genius," Jeffrey had continued, "the roads were icy last night."
"It's morning."
"It's cold."
"Jeff, I'll be fine."
"Jared, the bike isn't safe."
Jared had sighed, put on his helmet and waved to his adoptive father.
"I'm taking Jensen!" Jeffrey had called over the sound of the garage door opening. He watched Jared nod his head and start the motorcycle, revving the engine a couple of times before rolling out of the garage and into the street.
Jared knew, without even looking, that Jeffrey was shaking his head, a stern look on his face that said, "You’ll see. When you spill the bike, you'll come tell me that I was right."
Standing there in the hospital room, Jared wished that he could tell Jeffrey just that. For some reason, he believed that it should be him there lying in the bed. Jeffrey should be able to come into the room and say, "See, kid? Listen to your old man next time."
As if reading his thoughts, Jeffrey's eyes fluttered open. Stevie couldn't have stopped the flow of tears if she'd been threatened with her own mortality. Almost instantly, Jeffrey's gaze landed on her. He moved the mask with the oxygen away from his mouth, then smiled and weakly reached for her, the heart monitor closed around his index finger. "Hey, baby," he greeted in a very hoarse voice.
"You big jerk," she said tearfully, taking hold of his hand. "It's a good thing you're laying down, 'cause I have half a mind to kick your ass."
He chuckled, winced in pain, and looked at her again. "I'm sorry I scared you," he apologized. "Wasn't on my to-do list today."
"What happened?"
Slowly, he shook his head, eyes blinking heavily. "Don't remember much, baby," he told her. "It was just an accident."
She jumped to her feet and put her arms around him, mindful of his bruised ribs and stapled head. She kissed his neck, his cheek, and then his mouth, whispering to him how much she loved him. He didn't verbally return the sentiment. Instead, he met her eyes, his own sparkling, and smiled at her. He saw Jared and Jensen at the foot of his bed and grinned down at them.
"Get over here, you little punk," he said.
Jared let go of Jensen and moved around the other side of the hospital bed. He leaned down to give Jeffrey a hug, but before he did, he winked at him. "You're right," he said. "The bike was way more dangerous than the car."
"Shut up," Jeffrey snapped, albeit lovingly. "I might be busted up, but I can still kick your ass. Give your old man a hug."
Jared finally did as was asked of him. At the back of his head, he felt Jeffrey's fingers curl into a fist, forcibly holding Jared there for a little longer than usual. Not that he really had to. Jared had never pulled out of an embrace from Jeffrey. Let go, Jared looked down at Jeffrey and smiled.
"Don't do that again," he told him.
Jeffrey nodded. "Noted." As Jared backed away, Jeffrey's gaze fell to Jensen. "Don't think you're getting out of this that easy, Jensen."
Smiling, Jensen shook his head. "No, sir," he said. He watched Jeffrey wave him closer and then took Jared's place by the bed. He leaned down and gave Jeffrey a hug, receiving one back just as Jared had. He was made to stay in the embrace for a little longer than usual, and then set free.
"Now get out," Jeffrey declared. "I need to talk to my girl."
"Hey," Jared complained. "You were just in a damn car accident. We should get to visit you for a few minutes."
"Jared, we have some things to figure out."
"Like what?"
Jeffrey almost sighed. "Like what the hell we're going to do about money," he said. "I only have so many sick days left, kiddo."
"I'll get a job."
He shook his head. "We've already been down that road," he refused. "Ain't no garage that has job openings right now."
Jared shrugged his shoulders. "I'll talk to Rock," he offered. "Bartend."
"Oh, Jesus."
"What, you think I can't pour a goddamn drink?"
"It depends on how many you're drinking while you try."
"Oh, shut up," he said with a smile.
"We'll figure out something, Jeff," Jensen interrupted.
"Yeah, let's not worry about money right now," Stevie agreed. "Let's just get you home and feeling better first."
Jeffrey gave in, taking somewhat of a deep breath, wincing at his bruised ribs and then softly sighed. "Alright," he agreed. "But I still want you out. I need to talk to Stevie alone."
Jared still wouldn't give in. "We're a family, Jeffrey."
Jeffrey's heart swelled with love. It was going to be a while before he was even close to good old Jeff. He knew there was lots of healing, lots of physical therapy, and lots of time before that happened. He was going to need his family more than ever during all of that. "Yes, we are, kid," he agreed. "I'm glad you finally see it that way. And right now the Ma and Pa part of the family need to talk."
"So talk."
"We're going to talk about sex and how much we adore each other."
"I'm outta here," Jared declared. He grabbed hold of Jensen's hand and pulled him out of the room with him.
"'Bye!" Jensen called before he was yanked out of the room.
When they were gone, and the door had swung closed, Stevie looked over at Jeffrey. She wanted to set a hand to his forehead, brush his tousled hair back from his face, but she didn't, afraid that she would cause more pain. Instead, she brought his hand to her face and kissed his palm.
"Hey," he smiled. He patted the right side of the bed. "Come up here."
"No," she refused. "I'm fine here."
"I ain't gonna break," he told her.
"I beg to differ," she laughed.
He patted the bed again. "Come on," he encouraged. "Please?"
Reluctantly, Stevie gave in. She moved around to the opposite side of the bed and gingerly crawled up onto the mattress with him. He put his arm around her and held her close, his cheek rested against the top of her head. "Do me a favor?"
She propped herself up on an elbow, looking over at him. "I'm sorry, am I hurting you?" she asked.
"No," he replied, shaking his head. "Do you think...?”
She waited for him to continue, but he didn't. "Do I think what?" she asked.
He smiled. "Do you think you could marry me, maybe?"
It took a moment for her smile to emerge, but when it did, it was bright enough to light up the room. She nodded her head and giggled softly. "Maybe."
--TBC--