The Smile You Can't Forget (9/?)
nine
"We really do need to get out of bed at some point," Jared murmurred, nuzzling his face closer to Jensen's neck despite his words. Jensen grinned, arm tightening instinctively around his mate's middle for a long moment, before he sighed dramatically and rolled over to flop onto his back.
"We did get out of bed," He pointed out petulantly, turning his head on the pillow to meet his omega's beautiful hazel eyes, dazzling with laughter. "We just got in again afterwards."
It wasn't a lie. The two of them had been drifting in and out of sleep since the early hours of the morning, making two brief trips to the bathroom and then the kitchen, before climbing back into bed and cuddling back up together all over again. It was now gone midday, and even Jensen had to admit that his mate might have a point.
"I've been wearing the same clothes for two days," Jared laughed, reaching over to tangle their fingers together. "I'm not willing to make it three, and I need to grab some stuff for staying at my parents' house tomorrow night... if they even let us stay that long after I tell them everything."
Jensen glanced over, picking up on the doubt in his young mate's voice and once more wishing that their mateship was something that would be received a little more readily by the teenager's parents.
"Everything will be okay," He reassured, squeezing the younger man's hand. "Even if your parents don't want us to spend the night in their house, my parents are only a twenty minute drive from their house, so it's not like we'll be stranded without anywhere to stay."
Jared nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, you're right. There's no point in freaking out - what's gonna happen is gonna happen, and there's nothing I can do about it. In the meantime, I can focus on clean clothes and figuring out a way to tell Chad without him going apeshit."
Jensen laughed, reaching across to drop a kiss on the omega's head.
"Whilst you're at your flat," He said hesitantly. "I was thinking you could maybe grab a few spare clothes that you could keep here? Only if you want to, of course, but we've been spending quite a lot of nights here, and it'd be easier than trying to remember to grab a change of clothes every time..."
Jared cut him off with an enthusiastic nod.
"Yeah," He agreed hastily. "That sounds like a neat idea."
**
Honestly, they should have expected that Chad would be home.
The way that his classes were scheduled, he was left with a three-hour gap between twelve and three on a Friday, during which he usually napped on the sofa. Having personally observed what had happened when Milo had stubbed his toe on the door frame and woken him up, Jensen had always made a point to be very careful.
Unfortunately for both him and Jared, they'd let themselves into the flat whilst loudly debating whether Mal or River was the best Firefly character, and Jensen had turned the corner just in time to have a pillow smack him in the face with what could only be described as an unnervingly good shot.
It was all he could do to watch dumbly as the pillow fell to the floor, before he finally glanced up and came face-to-face with a very furious looking Chad Michael-Murray.
"You're a complete jackass!" The teenager shouted, and Jensen was more than a little surprised to note that Chad wasn't actually talking to him.
"Uh," Jared said awkwardly, shifting his weight from foot-to-foot. "Did we wake you up? I'm really sorry."
If anything, that only seemed to make Chad even more irate.
"Are you kidding me?" He snapped. "Do you have any idea how fucking worried I've been? You call me up and tell me that you need me to take notes for you because Jensen had to take you to the hospital, and then you never even text to let me know that you're okay! So no, you didn't wake me up, because I was so busy running through every possibility in my head that I somehow couldn't fall asleep!"
Jared ducked his head, a blush creeping his way across his cheeks.
"I'm really sorry, Chad," He said earnestly. "I know I should've text, but I just... I was kind of doing some freaking out of my own, okay?"
"What?" Chad's expression changed from anger to concern within seconds, and he took a few steps open, one hand reaching towards his friend as if worried that he might suddenly collapse. It was the first time that Jensen truly registered just how much Jared must mean to him, because the kid looked beyond terrified. "Why? Jesus, are you sick? Like, do you have cancer? Oh, god, I knew that something was wrong, I just knew it-"
"I don't have cancer," Jared interrupted carefully. "Or any other terminal illness for that matter, so you can cut that train of thought off right there."
"But it is serious?"
Jared hesitated, taking a deep breath before nodding his head. "Yeah, I guess it is pretty serious. I'm, uh... I'm pregnant."
For a long moment there was complete silence, and then Chad's head whipped around to glare at Jensen with such an intensity that the alpha actually took a step backwards.
"Jesus Christ! I thought you were taking it slow, you dick!" He roared, pointing an accusing finger at Jensen's chest. "You promised that you weren't gonna rush him into anything, and Jesus, I am such an idiot for believing that you wouldn't try anything like this! Is this what it's gonna be like, huh? Gonna use him as your little breedmare until he runs out of uses? I've known plenty of alphas like you, and I swear to god that I won't stand for it, I'll take him away from you so fast that your head will spin-"
"Hey!" Jared's voice was surprisingly quiet for how strong he sounded, and both of them turned to look at him in the same instant. His eyes were locked on Chad, burning with a furious intensity that Jensen had never seen before. "You stop that right now, Chad, you hear me? Jensen has never made me do anything that I didn't want him to do, and I would never let him. This is just as much my fault as it his, and I won't let you stand here and treat him like shit. You're my best friend, and I need your support in this, but Jensen is my mate, so this ends here."
Chad swore under his breath, tangling his hands in his hair and turning and walking in the opposite direction. For a long moment, Jensen thought that he was just going to keep walking and slam his bedroom door in their faces, but instead he dropped onto the sofa with a long sigh.
"Shit," He breathed, lifting his head to meet Jensen's gaze once more. "Sorry, Jensen."
Jensen shrugged his shoulders. "Forget it, man. Nice to know that somebody else is looking out for Jay, you know? I'm glad he's got a friend like you."
Chad smiled gratefully, before turning back to Jared. Both of them looked so young and fragile and Jensen felt more than a little out of place, felt like he was stepping on some invisible line of friendship, but he couldn't force himself to move away. Regardless of how uncomfortable he was, this was where he was supposed to be.
"Have you told your parents yet?"
Jared snorted, making his way across the room to drop into the love seat, offering his mate a small smile when the alpha sat down next to him and tangled their fingers together.
"No," The omega admitted. "Not yet. We're having dinner at their house tomorrow evening though, so... I guess we'll see how well that turns out."
Chad's wince wasn't exactly reassuring. The beta had known Jared and his family since they were kids, though Jared had admitted that his parents weren't exactly Chad's biggest fan, and he figured that the teenager was probably a good judge of how the Padalecki family was going to react.
"Well," He said quietly, offering the two of them a small smile. "Despite that small freak out there, which I'm totally sorry about, I'm here if you need anything. What did the doctor say? Is everything okay so far? Male pregnancies are so rare, dude."
Jared's smile faded a little, and he twisted their fingers tighter together.
"First of all, he said that I should probably abort the baby." He confessed. "But I can't do that, so... he said that I'm considered 'high risk' because I'm under twenty-two and I'm underweight and I'm male, so we'll be doing regular check ups and stuff. At the moment I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the baby's alright, you know?"
Jensen eyed his mate carefully, noting that he hadn't mentioned the fact that the pregnancy was just as much a risk to him as it was to the baby, but let it slide - if only because Chad was already looking a little pale, and Jared's eyes were looking suspiciously wet. He longed to pull his mate into his arms and comfort him, but he didn't want to interrupt what he knew was an important moment for the two best friends.
"So, you could lose the baby?"
Jared pulled in a staggered breath and nodded, and that was apparently all it took for Chad, who crossed the room in a swift move and dropped to the floor by the kid's feet - tugging him into a hard hug and holding him tightly as the younger man cried.
Hand resting on his omega's back, Jensen felt Chad squeeze his hand in a silent show of support, and felt himself begin to smile despite himself, because regardless of what happened with Jared's parents, Jensen knew now that the kid would never go unsupported.
**
The next morning came far too quickly, and it seemed like only moments later that the two of them were dragging themselves out of bed and piling into the Impala. Jared was quieter than usual, absently humming along to Metallica every once in a while, and staring absently out of the window as he twisted his fingers nervously together.
Frowning a little, Jensen reached over and gently nudged the kid's knee out of the way as he popped open the glove compartment and rummaged one-handed through the tape collection there. Jared watched curiously as Jensen finally fished out the tape that he wanted, marked by a white sticker with a red 'x' on the front, and stuck it in the tape player.
Seconds later he was laughing. "Seriously? Barbie Girl? Why do you even have that on tape?"
"It's Megan's," Jensen shrugged around his own laughter. "You were looking a little serious there, and don't even try and tell me that you don't know the words."
Jared raised his eyebrow, still grinning widely. "Was that your way of admitting that you know the words to a song by Aqua?"
"Life in plastic, it's fantastic! You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere..." Jensen sang, tapping his hands off the steering wheel in the same way that he did when he was listening to Metallica or AC/DC. Jared tipped his head back in laughter, and as the chorus started, he burst into song just as animatedly.
By the time that the song came to a close, they were yelling the words, Jared wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.
Deciding that the tape had done what it was supposed to do, Jensen quickly ejected it and tossed it over his shoulder into the backseat with a dramatic flourish. Jared pressed his Metallica tape back into its rightful place with the kind of haste that Jensen usually associated with an emergency situation, and the two of them lapsed back into laughter.
"Jesus," The omega panted a few seconds later, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, snorting softly before composing himself once more. "That was definitely the hardest I've laughed in a while."
"Me too," Jensen admitted, slinging a careless arm around his mate's shoulders and tugging him close. "I have to admit, I was quite impressed by just high you forced your voice there."
"Thank you," Jared winked. "My momma always did say that she could never tell my voice apart from Sandy's when we were kids."
Jensen snorted in laughter again, dropping a kiss on the omega's temple. "Awww, baby. I hope you know that I will hold that over you for all eternity."
Jared sighed loudly, slumping his shoulders in an exaggerated fashion, before perking up a little. "Oh, hey, it's the next left here."
The alpha dutifully turned off onto what appeared to be some kind of dust driveway, lined on either side by trees. Somehow it was the furthest possible thing from what Jensen had expected, and he felt his eyebrows raise as the driveway widened out to reveal what looked like - from first impression - a fully functional ranch.
"This is where you grew up?" He asked, leaning forwards to peer through the windshield as Jared directed him to park the Impala in front of one of the garage doors.
It wasn't until he'd studied it for a few seconds more that he realized the house wasn't actually as big as it seemed. The traditional ranch-style build made it seem more intimidating than it was, and it wasn't until he took a closer look that he realized that the garage doors were rusting towards the bottom, and that the wooden steps up to the porch were sagging slightly in the middle.
"Yeah," Jared breathed, sinking back into his seat. "This is home. Kind of ironic that both of my parents come from Polish families, and yet we're like this crazily stereotypical Texan family, y'know? Dad runs a ranch, and mom runs the house. Sunday dinner's at seven and everyone's there in time to wash their hands and help set the table."
Jensen snorted. "This place looks awesome, Jay. I bet you got up to mischief more than once around here as a kid."
Jared opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off when his door was yanked open and he was tugged out of the car.
"Jay-Bear!" The stranger greeted, squeezing the omega so tightly that Jensen briefly entertained the thought that his child might actually be getting squished in the kid's stomach. Opening his own door much more gently, and giving his baby an apologetic pat as he did so, Jensen stepped out of the car and swung around to take in the new arrival.
The first thing that he noticed was that the guy was tall. At an above-average 6'2" himself, Jensen wasn't exactly short, but this guy had at least a head and shoulders on him. The second thing that he noticed was the familiar tilt of his eyes, and the long brunette hair, and he suddenly made the connection that this was more than likely Jared's brother.
Jared chose that moment to finally wriggle free, grinning widely as he stepped back.
"Nice to see you too, Jeff." He laughed, shaking his head in what Jensen recognized as fond amusement. The omega turned to him then, inclining his head to the end of the car even as he tugged his brother in that direction, and Jensen steeled his spine and met the two of them there. "Jensen, this is my pain in the ass big brother, Jeff. Jeff, this is Jensen."
Jeff's eyes narrowed slightly, but he politely shook the hand that Jensen offered, and made no obvious attempts to squeeze it so hard that the bones broke. It had been a serious concern.
"Nice to meet you," He offered somewhat stiffly. Jensen couldn't help but appreciate the effort. "Momma said to tell you that Dad's out back, so you can give Jensen a tour and do the introductions whilst she finishes off dinner, if you want."
"Sounds great." Jared nodded and then, a little more hesitantly. "Does she look pissed?"
Jeff glanced at Jensen, hesitating for a brief moment before finally offering an honest answer. "She doesn't look happy."
Jared nodded like that was expected, but Jensen could read his disappointment in the slight slump of his shoulders and the small sigh he let out.
"Sorry, Kid." Jeff told him, squeezing his shoulder briefly before looking up at Jensen. "You two have fun, alright? Just make sure that you're not late for dinner."
"I think I learnt my lesson the third time she told me that being late meant I didn't get fed," Jared laughed, reaching out to tangle his and Jensen's hands together. "We'll be back in time, trust me. I'm hungry."
Jeff rolled his eyes once more, offering the two of them one last smile before he turned and headed back towards the house. Jared, on the other hand, started steering him towards the other side of the garages - where a large wooden gate stood out of view from the driveway. He swung it open easily, grinning as he shuffled Jensen through and shut it behind him, leading the way down a shaded alleyway. There was another gate at the end, and the second that it was open, a small border collie was launching itself at Jared.
Laughing, the teenager dropped to his knees, making a fuss of the wildly wriggling dog, and Jensen couldn't help but laugh a little at the open glee on the younger man's face.
"Friend of yours?" He teased lightly, crouching down to scratch behind the dog's ears when it bounced over to yours.
"Sure is," Jared grinned. "This is the newest little lady to the ranch, Magpie. Kallie and Roxy are probably out with dad somewhere, but Maggie's still a pup so she basically just gets to run around and be a nuisance all day."
Jensen smiled, giving the dog one last scratch behind the ears before Jared tugged him to his feet and started leading him through the yard. All Jensen could see for miles was open fields and, to his right past the house, a building that was undoubtedly the stable.
To his surprise, the omega didn't lead him in that direction, but instead turned left and started leading him along a dirt track between two empty fields. Catching his obviously confused look, the kid smiled.
"There's somebody special that I want you to meet." He grinned, coming to a stop by a large wooden gate. For a moment Jensen didn't see anything, and then Jared let out a shrill whistle and a big, light-coloured mare appeared from the cluster of trees in the back corner, not slowing until she was next to the gate. "This is Maisie."
The horse reached her head out to nuzzle along the side of Jared's face and the kid smiled, stroking her neck softly.
Logically, the fact that he'd grown up on a ranch should probably have tipped Jensen off to the fact that the kid was going to love animals, but somehow it had never come up in conversation, and seeing that adoration on his face had something warming in Jensen's gut.
He promised himself that, someday, he'd give the kid this - a dog or a cat, hell, maybe even a horse that he could look at the way that he was looking at Maisie in that very second. Despite knowing that Chad's accusations of him treating Jared like nothing but a broodmare were completely unfounded, it had made Jensen realize that - whether he'd intended to or not - he had completely changed Jared's life.
He stepped up behind the younger man, resting one hand on his hip and gently reaching the other hand out to stroke down the other side of the mare's neck. Jared looked up and him, warm and happy, and leant back into the embrace.
"She was my sixteenth birthday present," He told his alpha quietly, tangling his fingers in the horse's mane. "The SPCA phoned about a mare that nobody would take, and he said that we'd foster her until we could find something better. She was in a mess, but by the time that by birthday rolled around I was already so attached to her... So I got to keep her."
"She's beautiful." Jensen told him honestly. "How old is she?"
"Thirteen, best as we can figure." Jared hesitated then, glancing up at his mate shyly. "Sometimes I swear she was the only thing that kept me going. I mean, my mom and dad never made it a secret that they didn't like me being an omega, you know? And even though they never tried to rub it in or anything, sometimes it just got to me. But Maisie was always happy to see me."
Having come from the kind of home that he had, it was hard for Jensen to comprehend what that must have felt like, and suddenly unable to find the right words, he settled for tipping the kid's head back and kissing him gently.
"Just remember," He said quietly. "That no matter what happens, you'll never have to feel that way again. You've got me now, and I'm not going anywhere."
**
"You must be Jensen."
Gerry Padalecki was an intimidating man. Like all of the men in the Padalecki family that Jensen had met so far, Jared's father definitely had the height advantage. Perhaps two inches taller than Jensen, he easily outweighed him by fifty pounds. If the way he was staring down at the younger alpha was an indication, he was also fully aware of that fact.
"That's right, sir." Jensen replied politely, holding out a hand to shake. Gerry ignored the offer completely, leaving Jensen to awkwardly pull his hand back. "Pleasure to meet you."
Gerri nodded tersely, leaving Jensen fumbling for something to say and Jared shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. Thankfully, Sherri chose that moment to appear.
"Dinner's ready." She announced, and if her husband had been tense and unwilling to make conversation, Sherri at least offered him a small smile. "Hope you like lasagne, Jensen."
Jensen smiled, following her obediently into the adjoining room. "It's one of my favorites, ma'am."
"It's mom's specialty," Jared announced proudly, clearly trying to break the tension as best as he can, and gently nudged Jensen into a seat between himself and his younger sister - who, so far, had been the only one that had actually been openly friendly towards the alpha.
Sherri smiled again, passing the plates around the table, and after thanking her and receiving a slightly stiffer smile, Jensen resolved himself to eating his food in mostly silence. Which, of course, was the moment that Sherri settled into her seat and decided to get chatty.
"So, Jensen," She started. "Where did you and Jared meet?"
Jared nearly dropped his fork, stiffening almost visibly, and for the first time Jensen considered that they probably should have talked about what they were going to say a little more before they arrived.
Thankfully, Jared responded before he had a chance to make any kind of decision - right or wrong. "In a bar, momma."
The beta's eyes widened and she raised an eyebrow. "In a bar? How classy of you, sweetheart. And you just knew that you were mates straight away?"
Alarm bells started ringing in Jensen's head, because this sounded a hell of a lot like some kind of inquisition.
"Yes." Jared replied, and there was a warning edge to his voice that didn't seem to faze his mother in the slightest. "We did."
"I hope that you understand that we're just worried for you sweetheart," She continued without pause. "You're still young, and the possibility of a mateship is a big thing."
Jared blinked. "There's no possibility, mom. We are mated."
"Well, sometimes people make mistakes. I'm just saying that if you ever change your mind, there's no pressure from anybody. You're young and, whether or not you believe yourself to be mated, you haven't made any formal commitments-"
"Can you lay off please?" Jared snapped suddenly. "I just want a nice, family dinner, okay?"
Sherri held her hands up as if surprised at the abrupt halt to her conversation. "I'm sorry. I just didn't realize that it was such a touchy subject, is all."
Silence fell once more, save for the sounds of eating. This time, it was Megan that came to their rescue.
"So Jared said that you're a mechanic, Jensen?" She asked, offering him a warm smile. The effort was more than a little appreciated. "That must be cool. I bet you meet all kinds of interesting people."
"I enjoy it," Jensen admitted with a smile of his own. "The guys I work with are all pretty awesome, so that's a huge bonus. Plus they let me work on the Impala for free when we're quiet."
"That's the big black one outside?"
The alpha nodded his head happily, feeling his shoulders begin to sink a little in relief at the resonably safe topic. "That's her. Me and my dad built her up from scratch."
Megan raised an eyebrow in apparent surprise. "Wow! That's pretty amazing."
"Your father built the tractor by himself." Sherri interrupted, a sharp edge to her tone. Jared sighed in frustration, and Jensen reached out to squeeze his knee underneath the table, silently trying to reassure him that it was alright. Clearly, the kid wasn't feeling it.
"Seriously, mom?" He snapped. "I came here to introduce you to my mate and share our news, but I'm not going to sit here and listen to you sniping at him and being rude. If you don't want us here, then that's fine, but just say it."
Sherri blinked at them for a few moments, before frowning in apparent confusion. "News? I thought the news was that you're nineteen and mated? Don't tell me there's more."
"I..." Jared visibly floundered, mouth opening and closing silently, and Jensen squeezed his knee a little harder. After a few seconds, the omega's hand reached for his and he twined their fingers together. "Yes, there's more. I'm pregnant."
Sherri inhaled loudly. "That's not funny, Jared."
"It's not supposed to be!" Jared snapped. "It's the truth. I'm pregnant. We're going to have a baby, and I wanted you to meet Jensen and make an effort because I wanted you to be part of this baby's life - but if you can't accept him? Then you won't be."
"Well," Gerri interjected roughly. "That explains everything."
Jared was practically shaking with anger, and Jensen knew that this really couldn't be good for him, but at the same time he understood that it was something that had to happen.
"Excuse me?"
"This whole 'mateship' rouse." His father continued, waving his hands in the air for emphasis. "I knew it had to be some kind of coverup. Congratulations on getting yourself knocked up, son. I hope you realise just how much you've ruined your life, and how much you've let both me and your mother down. This was exactly what we were concerned about when that doctor first told us that you were an omega-"
"Hey!" Jensen was just as surprised to hear himself interrupt as the rest of the table seemed to be, but Jared was looking pale and wide-eyed at his father's accusations, and there was no way that he was going to sit back and watch as another alpha tore his mate down like that. "You may be his father, but you'll watch how you talk to him. Jared is my mate, and if you choose not to believe that then that's your problem, but I won't stand around and listen to you insult him like that."
Gerri blinked dumbly at him, but it was Jared who spoke.
"Forget it, Jensen." He said quietly, standing from his chair. "I think we're done here."
**
A/N: Well, this chapter turned out to be a labor of love - due to general stupidity, I managed to lose two completed versions of this chapter on two entirely separate occasions. Unfortunately for ya'll, both of them were better than this one. Thankfully, I managed to pull one together (without tearing all of my hair out), so you at least got something. This version didn't quite manage to cover as much as the other two did, so you'll have to wait until next chapter to see how Jensen's parents react to the news! Until then, feel free to feed my muse with your wonderful comments! They make my day!