Redemption 8B
Jared and Jensen stood shoulder to shoulder at the dessert table, each holding two plates - one their own and the other for one of the twins - surveying the home baked buffet before them. The women of Wowakan usually swept the pie and cake baking contests at the county fair and right now they were staring at some of the past and current blue ribbon winning recipes.
“Benji will want some of that ambrosia,” Jared pointed at the marshmallow and fruit concoction with the spoon he was using to dish peach cobbler on his and Teddy’s plates, “and some of that pumpkin pie.”
Jensen dutifully placed the items on Benji’s plate, adding a few chocolate chip cookies on one side and a dollop of ice cream to the other. He shook the can of whipped cream and sprayed some on the pumpkin pie in the shape of a smiley face. He felt a small hand on his back and looked over to see his mother peeking her head around his side.
“The plates for the twins done? They’re getting a little antsy.” She chuckled at the smiley face and patted Jensen on the back.
“Yeah,” Jared set his nearly empty plate on the table and reached out to take Benji’s from Jensen, “I’ll go get them started then come back and get mine.”
“Nonsense,” Karen chided, taking the plates from him, “Get your dessert. I’ll take care of the boys.” Without waiting for a response, she walked toward the children’s table and was greeted by a pair of excited squeals Jared would know anywhere.
Handing Jared his plate, Jensen looked over items trying to decide how many he could logistically fit on his plate. Noticing Sam Ferris’ famous triple chocolate, triple layer cake, he nudged Jared with his elbow. “You gotta try Sam’s cake,” he moved closer and picked up the cutter, “It brings new meaning to death by chocolate.”
Jared scrunched his face at the rich looking dessert, a shiver raking his whole frame. “I, uh, I don’t eat chocolate anymore,” staring vacantly at the cake, he added, “don’t even really care for the smell of it.”
“You don’t like chocolate?” Jensen couldn’t help the disbelieving tone in his voice. Jared’s love of all things sugary was well-known, but his affinity for chocolate was almost legendary. Once, Jensen had teased Jared that he was having an affair on him with Mr. Hershey, checking his collar for chocolate smudges instead of lipstick.
Jared blinked, an unreadable smile curling his lips, “Yeah. Weird, right? They say that your taste buds change over time,” at Jensen’s skeptical look, he nodded his head, “I’ve seen it. Teddy used to hate carrots, even as a baby would spit them out at me, and then all of the sudden one day he loved them. Now, they’re his favorite vegetable.”
“Okay, so no chocolate. You know that eliminates like half the table, right?” Jensen still wasn’t convinced, but decided not to push the issue…today, adding it to the growing list of things he and Jared needed to sit down and have a serious talk about soon.
“Well, I already got some peach cobbler and there’s a pecan pie over there. Plus, I’ve been itching to get at that lemon cake I saw your Mom bring in earlier.” His smile this time was open and genuine, “I’m good. There’s enough sugar here to keep he hyper until it’s time to break out the Christmas cookies.”
“God help us all,” Jensen teased, the cake cutter slicing into the uppermost layer of Sam’s cake.
“Jensen!” His mother’s happy yell startled him, his hand jerking down and cutting the piece of cake at an odd angle. Looking over, he saw her pat each twin on the head lovingly before she darted off to the side of the house where a girl with long blonde hair had emerged.
“What’s that about?” Jared craned his neck to see who had Karen so excited.
“Can only be Dakota,” Jensen answered, rolling his eyes, “I guess she made it after all.”
“Dakota? She’s…here?” Jared’s words came out low and stilted and Jensen faced him.
“Yeah. You okay?” Jared’s face was blank, his eyes distant, “You knew Momma invited her, right? I mean, that was okay, right?” It was strange, Jared and Dakota got along famously when he and Jensen were together the first time. Dakota adored Jared, followed him everywhere, and Jared treated her like another sister. Dakota was honestly heartbroken when Jensen and Jared decided to part ways, yelling at him that she didn’t understand and moping for weeks. Now, Jared didn’t seem the least bit thrilled that she was here.
Schooling his features, Jared’s smile returned if only a pale imitation of his normal one. “Of course. She’s family. Why don’t you go over there and greet her and I’ll take your plate back to the table.”
“Come with. She’s going to want to see her favorite brother, Jared.”
Firmly taking Jensen’s plate, Jared forced a tight smile. “I’ll catch up with her later after the family has had some time with her. Go on.”
“You sure?” Jensen reluctantly released his plate.
“Yes, I’m sure. Now, go before your mother squeezes the stuffing out of the poor girl.” Jared bumped his hip against Jensen’s gently shoving him toward where Karen had Dakota in a tight embrace.
Watching Jared head back to the table, Jensen added another item to his growing list of conversation topics. Sighing, he wound through the tables toward his mother and sister. “Momma, stop. Her eyes are bugging out!”
*****
Hours later, Jensen worked his way through the remaining people. He’d been searching for Jared and had yet to find him among the stragglers. Seeing his mom over by the dessert table covering the left overs with cling wrap, he dodged TJ and Hunter dressed as Indians, construction paper headbands and feathers adorning their heads, being chased by Benji and Dalton in cowboy hats. Jensen did a double take, trying to get a closer look at the hat perched on Benji’s head - a hat that closely resembled his own. He was going to have to talk to the boy about taking things without asking.
“Hey, Momma,” he greeted approaching the table, “have you seen Jared? I lost him somewhere.”
Karen laughed, placing an uncut pumpkin pie in a box next to an intact pecan one and a few bags of rolls. Every year since Jensen could remember his mother had always packaged up the uneaten food and carried it to the local shelter, joyfully handing it over to Samantha Smith who ran the facility. He also knew that each year when Samantha unpacked the box, she found an envelope with several hundred dollars enclosed tucked under the food with a note that it should be used to buy Christmas presents and food for the families that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it. In the twenty something years it had occurred to Jensen to notice, Santa had never failed to visit and bring the children a gift for Christmas morning. It always filled him with a warm sense of pride to realize that his mother was the reason for some people’s Christmas miracle.
“…man in town.”
Shaking his head, not realizing that he’d been lost in his own thoughts, he looked at his mother in confusion. “Sorry, Momma, zoned out there for a second. What did you say?”
“I said that I wasn’t sure how you lose the tallest man in town, but now I think I might have an idea,” she winked at her son. “Jared went into the house a little while ago. Said he wanted to start on the clean-up before it got too late. I told him I’d help, I just needed to box these things up for Austin to drop off, but he said he could handle it.”
Glancing toward the house, where he could see the light on in the kitchen, Jensen leaned over and kissed his mom on the cheek. “Thanks, Momma.”
He jogged in the direction of the house, noting the drop in temperature and that he should probably bring out sweatshirts for the boys, and scaled the stairs to the back porch. Through the window in the door, Jensen could see Jared at the sink washing dishes and Dakota standing near the island, biting her lip nervously. The door was open a crack, the sounds of water splashing and running drifting through the space as Jared washed and rinsed each dish in turn before setting it on a spread out dishtowel to the left of the sink, seemingly oblivious to the other presence in the room.
“Jared,” Dakota’s voice was soft and hesitant.
Jared startled, confirming Jensen’s belief he didn’t know the girl was there, and dropped the mixing bowl in the foam-filled sink, sloshing water over the edge and across his clothes. Spinning around, breath heaving with the surge of adrenaline, he gave an embarrassed chuckle. “Dakota! You scared the living daylights out of me.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, frowning down at her tightly clasped hands resting on the counter, “I just, uh,” she blew out a hard breath, cheeks puffing out in an imitation of a chipmunk, “I just wanted to talk to you for a minute. You know, without my brother and everyone around.”
Jensen was conflicted. He knew he shouldn’t listen in on other people’s conversations - his Momma had certainly taught him better than that - but the way his sister and Jared had acted around each other had his curiosity peaked. The few times the two had been together tonight, their interactions were stilted and forced, almost like they were the ones who’d suffered the break-up instead of Jensen and Jared.
Grabbing a clean dishtowel from the oven handle, Jared dried his hands. “What did you want to talk about?”
“You know what,” Dakota answered defeatedly, shoulders slumping. “I need to apologize, Jared. I was young and hurt and I acted stupidly. I know that now, but back then…” She shook her head. “You were like a brother to me and then one day you were gone. I felt like you didn’t love Jensen anymore, didn’t love me. I just wanted you to hurt as bad as I did.”
She wandered over to the refrigerator, eyes roving over the photographs held there by vibrantly colored, plastic letter magnets. Her finger traced a picture of Jensen with Jared and the twins that Chris took when Jared had brought the twins to see Jensen at the station, secured by two pink letter Js, a blue B and a yellow T. Benji sat in Jensen’s lap, wearing Jensen’s hat and badge, while TJ sat in Jared’s, wearing Chris’ things, all four looking at the camera with bright smiles on their faces. Sitting on the desk and watching over them all was Deputy Bear who Benji had insisted make the trip.
“I really messed everything up for everyone, didn’t I?” She turned head, her green eyes glistening. She blinked and a tear fell, racing down her cheek and leaving a wet track in its wake.
Jared was quickly at her side, thumb wiping away the tear as he cupped her face. “Don’t cry. You were fifteen, you didn’t know any better.” He pulled her into a hug, his large body enveloping her in his embrace. Jensen could see and hear his sister’s sobs as she buried herself in Jared’s shirt, pale fingers fisting in the fabric. “Shhh, it’s all in the past now. Nothing to be done but move forward, right?” He leaned back and smiled at her.
Shaking her head again, she wiped her tears away on the back of her hand. “You should hate me, Jared. I ruined…”
“Hey, now,” Jared hugged her close, “Don’t ever say something like that. I could never hate my ‘Kota.” He pressed a kiss into her platinum locks.
Jensen slowly backed down the porch steps and melted into the waning crowd. His list was growing at an alarming rate and Jensen didn’t think he could hold off the potentially explosive sit-down he needed to have with Jared. The young man had too many secrets closely guarded to his chest and those were usually the ones that came back to bite you in the ass.
*****
Timothy picked up his vibrating phone from the nightstand, glancing at the caller ID before answering.
“You better have some fucking news, Pileggi,” he growled into the mouthpiece in way of greeting.
“I found him,” Mitch rolled his eyes at his employer’s gruff tone. Somedays he wondered if this job was worth all the assholes he had to put up with.
“Are you sure? Where?”
“He’s in a little town in Colorado, a spot in the road called Wowakan. One of the companies that Murray guy owned had recently bought a farm there and when I went to check it out, he was living in it.” Mitch leafed through the pictured he’d taken while keeping Jared and his family under surveillance - shots of Jared and the twins around town, Jared dropping the boys off at school, Jared at work, Jared and Jensen on Halloween, Jensen and his friends at Fire Water.
“He with anybody?” Timothy’s jaw tightened the words forced out through gritted teeth.
Mitch hesitated, holding a photo of Jared and Jensen kissing on the back of the hayride wagon. Even in the short time that Mitch had been following the young man and his children, he could see how Jared had blossomed under Jensen’s attention. Sighing, he tossed the glossy pages back down on the table and scrubbed a hand over his bald head. “Yeah. He’s been seen around with the Deputy Sheriff,” Mitch flipped through his pocket notebook for his notes on Jared’s companion. “Name’s Jensen -“
“Ackles,” Timothy finished, anger boiling through his veins.
“You know him?” Mitch leaned forward in his chair, propping his foot on his knee to untie the laces of his boot.
“You could say that. Thank you, Mr. Pileggi,” Timothy said silkily, “Please send me a bill for your time and any notes or pictures you may have gathered during your investigation. I no longer require your services.” Timothy snapped his phone closed not waiting for an answer.
He threw his phone on the nightstand, the device skittering across the surface and falling over the side. Fucking Ackles. Jensen really thought he could take Jared away from him. Jared belonged to him, he owned Jared. A whimper and nudge brought his attention back from thoughts of his college rival. Slapping a hand down on Matt’s ass, Timothy started to thrust again, having stilled to conduct his phone call with the private investigator.
“Such a needy little whore,” Timothy rubbed his palm over the red handprint on Matt’s smooth skin. His hips moved faster, the thrusts harder with each successive in and out, until the man beneath him was crying and pleading. Listening to his whore beg him and picturing Jared under him begging for mercy, knowing Jared would be there again, the pace turned brutal. Timothy smirked as he was overcome by his climax, shoving Matt roughly from the bed, unconcerned about the man’s pleasure.
“Get out.”
When the door closed Timothy laid back, pleased at the lack of wet spot, and turned to Jared’s side of the bed. His hand ran under the duvet and over the cool sheets, linens that he’d refused to let Matt touch.
Soon.
“Benji will want some of that ambrosia,” Jared pointed at the marshmallow and fruit concoction with the spoon he was using to dish peach cobbler on his and Teddy’s plates, “and some of that pumpkin pie.”
Jensen dutifully placed the items on Benji’s plate, adding a few chocolate chip cookies on one side and a dollop of ice cream to the other. He shook the can of whipped cream and sprayed some on the pumpkin pie in the shape of a smiley face. He felt a small hand on his back and looked over to see his mother peeking her head around his side.
“The plates for the twins done? They’re getting a little antsy.” She chuckled at the smiley face and patted Jensen on the back.
“Yeah,” Jared set his nearly empty plate on the table and reached out to take Benji’s from Jensen, “I’ll go get them started then come back and get mine.”
“Nonsense,” Karen chided, taking the plates from him, “Get your dessert. I’ll take care of the boys.” Without waiting for a response, she walked toward the children’s table and was greeted by a pair of excited squeals Jared would know anywhere.
Handing Jared his plate, Jensen looked over items trying to decide how many he could logistically fit on his plate. Noticing Sam Ferris’ famous triple chocolate, triple layer cake, he nudged Jared with his elbow. “You gotta try Sam’s cake,” he moved closer and picked up the cutter, “It brings new meaning to death by chocolate.”
Jared scrunched his face at the rich looking dessert, a shiver raking his whole frame. “I, uh, I don’t eat chocolate anymore,” staring vacantly at the cake, he added, “don’t even really care for the smell of it.”
“You don’t like chocolate?” Jensen couldn’t help the disbelieving tone in his voice. Jared’s love of all things sugary was well-known, but his affinity for chocolate was almost legendary. Once, Jensen had teased Jared that he was having an affair on him with Mr. Hershey, checking his collar for chocolate smudges instead of lipstick.
Jared blinked, an unreadable smile curling his lips, “Yeah. Weird, right? They say that your taste buds change over time,” at Jensen’s skeptical look, he nodded his head, “I’ve seen it. Teddy used to hate carrots, even as a baby would spit them out at me, and then all of the sudden one day he loved them. Now, they’re his favorite vegetable.”
“Okay, so no chocolate. You know that eliminates like half the table, right?” Jensen still wasn’t convinced, but decided not to push the issue…today, adding it to the growing list of things he and Jared needed to sit down and have a serious talk about soon.
“Well, I already got some peach cobbler and there’s a pecan pie over there. Plus, I’ve been itching to get at that lemon cake I saw your Mom bring in earlier.” His smile this time was open and genuine, “I’m good. There’s enough sugar here to keep he hyper until it’s time to break out the Christmas cookies.”
“God help us all,” Jensen teased, the cake cutter slicing into the uppermost layer of Sam’s cake.
“Jensen!” His mother’s happy yell startled him, his hand jerking down and cutting the piece of cake at an odd angle. Looking over, he saw her pat each twin on the head lovingly before she darted off to the side of the house where a girl with long blonde hair had emerged.
“What’s that about?” Jared craned his neck to see who had Karen so excited.
“Can only be Dakota,” Jensen answered, rolling his eyes, “I guess she made it after all.”
“Dakota? She’s…here?” Jared’s words came out low and stilted and Jensen faced him.
“Yeah. You okay?” Jared’s face was blank, his eyes distant, “You knew Momma invited her, right? I mean, that was okay, right?” It was strange, Jared and Dakota got along famously when he and Jensen were together the first time. Dakota adored Jared, followed him everywhere, and Jared treated her like another sister. Dakota was honestly heartbroken when Jensen and Jared decided to part ways, yelling at him that she didn’t understand and moping for weeks. Now, Jared didn’t seem the least bit thrilled that she was here.
Schooling his features, Jared’s smile returned if only a pale imitation of his normal one. “Of course. She’s family. Why don’t you go over there and greet her and I’ll take your plate back to the table.”
“Come with. She’s going to want to see her favorite brother, Jared.”
Firmly taking Jensen’s plate, Jared forced a tight smile. “I’ll catch up with her later after the family has had some time with her. Go on.”
“You sure?” Jensen reluctantly released his plate.
“Yes, I’m sure. Now, go before your mother squeezes the stuffing out of the poor girl.” Jared bumped his hip against Jensen’s gently shoving him toward where Karen had Dakota in a tight embrace.
Watching Jared head back to the table, Jensen added another item to his growing list of conversation topics. Sighing, he wound through the tables toward his mother and sister. “Momma, stop. Her eyes are bugging out!”
*****
Hours later, Jensen worked his way through the remaining people. He’d been searching for Jared and had yet to find him among the stragglers. Seeing his mom over by the dessert table covering the left overs with cling wrap, he dodged TJ and Hunter dressed as Indians, construction paper headbands and feathers adorning their heads, being chased by Benji and Dalton in cowboy hats. Jensen did a double take, trying to get a closer look at the hat perched on Benji’s head - a hat that closely resembled his own. He was going to have to talk to the boy about taking things without asking.
“Hey, Momma,” he greeted approaching the table, “have you seen Jared? I lost him somewhere.”
Karen laughed, placing an uncut pumpkin pie in a box next to an intact pecan one and a few bags of rolls. Every year since Jensen could remember his mother had always packaged up the uneaten food and carried it to the local shelter, joyfully handing it over to Samantha Smith who ran the facility. He also knew that each year when Samantha unpacked the box, she found an envelope with several hundred dollars enclosed tucked under the food with a note that it should be used to buy Christmas presents and food for the families that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it. In the twenty something years it had occurred to Jensen to notice, Santa had never failed to visit and bring the children a gift for Christmas morning. It always filled him with a warm sense of pride to realize that his mother was the reason for some people’s Christmas miracle.
“…man in town.”
Shaking his head, not realizing that he’d been lost in his own thoughts, he looked at his mother in confusion. “Sorry, Momma, zoned out there for a second. What did you say?”
“I said that I wasn’t sure how you lose the tallest man in town, but now I think I might have an idea,” she winked at her son. “Jared went into the house a little while ago. Said he wanted to start on the clean-up before it got too late. I told him I’d help, I just needed to box these things up for Austin to drop off, but he said he could handle it.”
Glancing toward the house, where he could see the light on in the kitchen, Jensen leaned over and kissed his mom on the cheek. “Thanks, Momma.”
He jogged in the direction of the house, noting the drop in temperature and that he should probably bring out sweatshirts for the boys, and scaled the stairs to the back porch. Through the window in the door, Jensen could see Jared at the sink washing dishes and Dakota standing near the island, biting her lip nervously. The door was open a crack, the sounds of water splashing and running drifting through the space as Jared washed and rinsed each dish in turn before setting it on a spread out dishtowel to the left of the sink, seemingly oblivious to the other presence in the room.
“Jared,” Dakota’s voice was soft and hesitant.
Jared startled, confirming Jensen’s belief he didn’t know the girl was there, and dropped the mixing bowl in the foam-filled sink, sloshing water over the edge and across his clothes. Spinning around, breath heaving with the surge of adrenaline, he gave an embarrassed chuckle. “Dakota! You scared the living daylights out of me.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, frowning down at her tightly clasped hands resting on the counter, “I just, uh,” she blew out a hard breath, cheeks puffing out in an imitation of a chipmunk, “I just wanted to talk to you for a minute. You know, without my brother and everyone around.”
Jensen was conflicted. He knew he shouldn’t listen in on other people’s conversations - his Momma had certainly taught him better than that - but the way his sister and Jared had acted around each other had his curiosity peaked. The few times the two had been together tonight, their interactions were stilted and forced, almost like they were the ones who’d suffered the break-up instead of Jensen and Jared.
Grabbing a clean dishtowel from the oven handle, Jared dried his hands. “What did you want to talk about?”
“You know what,” Dakota answered defeatedly, shoulders slumping. “I need to apologize, Jared. I was young and hurt and I acted stupidly. I know that now, but back then…” She shook her head. “You were like a brother to me and then one day you were gone. I felt like you didn’t love Jensen anymore, didn’t love me. I just wanted you to hurt as bad as I did.”
She wandered over to the refrigerator, eyes roving over the photographs held there by vibrantly colored, plastic letter magnets. Her finger traced a picture of Jensen with Jared and the twins that Chris took when Jared had brought the twins to see Jensen at the station, secured by two pink letter Js, a blue B and a yellow T. Benji sat in Jensen’s lap, wearing Jensen’s hat and badge, while TJ sat in Jared’s, wearing Chris’ things, all four looking at the camera with bright smiles on their faces. Sitting on the desk and watching over them all was Deputy Bear who Benji had insisted make the trip.
“I really messed everything up for everyone, didn’t I?” She turned head, her green eyes glistening. She blinked and a tear fell, racing down her cheek and leaving a wet track in its wake.
Jared was quickly at her side, thumb wiping away the tear as he cupped her face. “Don’t cry. You were fifteen, you didn’t know any better.” He pulled her into a hug, his large body enveloping her in his embrace. Jensen could see and hear his sister’s sobs as she buried herself in Jared’s shirt, pale fingers fisting in the fabric. “Shhh, it’s all in the past now. Nothing to be done but move forward, right?” He leaned back and smiled at her.
Shaking her head again, she wiped her tears away on the back of her hand. “You should hate me, Jared. I ruined…”
“Hey, now,” Jared hugged her close, “Don’t ever say something like that. I could never hate my ‘Kota.” He pressed a kiss into her platinum locks.
Jensen slowly backed down the porch steps and melted into the waning crowd. His list was growing at an alarming rate and Jensen didn’t think he could hold off the potentially explosive sit-down he needed to have with Jared. The young man had too many secrets closely guarded to his chest and those were usually the ones that came back to bite you in the ass.
*****
Timothy picked up his vibrating phone from the nightstand, glancing at the caller ID before answering.
“You better have some fucking news, Pileggi,” he growled into the mouthpiece in way of greeting.
“I found him,” Mitch rolled his eyes at his employer’s gruff tone. Somedays he wondered if this job was worth all the assholes he had to put up with.
“Are you sure? Where?”
“He’s in a little town in Colorado, a spot in the road called Wowakan. One of the companies that Murray guy owned had recently bought a farm there and when I went to check it out, he was living in it.” Mitch leafed through the pictured he’d taken while keeping Jared and his family under surveillance - shots of Jared and the twins around town, Jared dropping the boys off at school, Jared at work, Jared and Jensen on Halloween, Jensen and his friends at Fire Water.
“He with anybody?” Timothy’s jaw tightened the words forced out through gritted teeth.
Mitch hesitated, holding a photo of Jared and Jensen kissing on the back of the hayride wagon. Even in the short time that Mitch had been following the young man and his children, he could see how Jared had blossomed under Jensen’s attention. Sighing, he tossed the glossy pages back down on the table and scrubbed a hand over his bald head. “Yeah. He’s been seen around with the Deputy Sheriff,” Mitch flipped through his pocket notebook for his notes on Jared’s companion. “Name’s Jensen -“
“Ackles,” Timothy finished, anger boiling through his veins.
“You know him?” Mitch leaned forward in his chair, propping his foot on his knee to untie the laces of his boot.
“You could say that. Thank you, Mr. Pileggi,” Timothy said silkily, “Please send me a bill for your time and any notes or pictures you may have gathered during your investigation. I no longer require your services.” Timothy snapped his phone closed not waiting for an answer.
He threw his phone on the nightstand, the device skittering across the surface and falling over the side. Fucking Ackles. Jensen really thought he could take Jared away from him. Jared belonged to him, he owned Jared. A whimper and nudge brought his attention back from thoughts of his college rival. Slapping a hand down on Matt’s ass, Timothy started to thrust again, having stilled to conduct his phone call with the private investigator.
“Such a needy little whore,” Timothy rubbed his palm over the red handprint on Matt’s smooth skin. His hips moved faster, the thrusts harder with each successive in and out, until the man beneath him was crying and pleading. Listening to his whore beg him and picturing Jared under him begging for mercy, knowing Jared would be there again, the pace turned brutal. Timothy smirked as he was overcome by his climax, shoving Matt roughly from the bed, unconcerned about the man’s pleasure.
“Get out.”
When the door closed Timothy laid back, pleased at the lack of wet spot, and turned to Jared’s side of the bed. His hand ran under the duvet and over the cool sheets, linens that he’d refused to let Matt touch.
Soon.