Mission Voyager (Part Nineteen)

[soulmatecest]

-Part Nineteen-
(Jensen)

There’s nothing else crossing Jensen’s mind in that moment, not a single thing beyond the growing thought of protecting Jared. And Jensen will do anything to accomplish that.

The anger has been scratching his insides since the moment he went home and Chad and Sandy told him what had happened, Jared’s call from the cafeteria in front of the Hospital and a Collector recognizing him. All because Jared thought something had happened to him. Jensen breathes out slowly, jaw set as he watches the Collector who was previously pointing at Jared look up at him, ankle starting to bleed profusely.

But there’s more blood on the floor than the one belonging to the shifter, is easy to tell apart because they colors are different. Because shifters blood isn’t red.

Jared is sitting on the floor, a pool of blood under his leg and a piece of something pressed to his throat. Jensen’s nostrils flutter as he takes a deep breath, already making the connection of what Jared would do instead of letting the Collector drag him back into the Facility. Is exactly what Jared did months ago when he was still hurt, taking the bottle of pills from Jensen with only one intention in his head when he thought Jensen was going to call the Collectors.

The idea of how scared Jared must have been again to get the idea of killing himself after being chased down makes the anger in Jensen scream loudly in his head. Jared is hurt. Jared is scared. Jared could have done it if Jensen didn’t get there on time or the Collector tried to get too close.

They tried to take Jared away, dragging him to his worst nightmare and then almost getting him killed. Jensen doesn’t think he can explain the amount of hatred he feels start to consume him from inside as he stares at the shifter in front of him, violent anger roaring for revenge.

Jensen could have stepped out of that door and find Jared lifeless body on the ground instead.

All because shifters can’t leave humans alone. Because they have to hunt them down and take them away.

But they won’t do that to Jared. Jensen won’t let them.

Jensen charges the rifle again, raising it until is pointing to the shifter’s chest, hands shaking just so from the amounts of resentment pumping through his body. Jared was right all along. Everybody is capable of unthinkable things if the situation calls for it. It’s not only humans, is all of them. Anyone can get to this point of they are pushed the limit.

He stares down at the shifter who’s holding onto his knees while looking at Jensen with scared eyes and Jensen realizes he’s going to do it.
The ultimate horror for his species, something that goes against everything they believe, the opposite of everything they are born for.

Jensen would murder for Jared.

He would finish a living creature and betray his entire race just for one human. And he has never felt more decided about anything in his life.

He hates the shifter in front of him. He hates the shifters who chased Jared down. He hates every single shifter who has made Jared’s life a living nightmare since the moment they colonized Earth. The ones who forced him to go into hiding, the reason why he ended so sick in the first place. Jensen hates like he has never done before and he’s not going to let anyone else ever do this to his human ever again.

“Jensen!” Jared calls from the floor, voice broken. Jensen feels his fingers twitching around the trigger but doesn’t turn around, eyes fixed on the Collector on the floor. “Jensen-Jensen, please don’t do it.”

Don’t do it? How can Jensen not to? They were going to take him away, connect Jared to a facility he would never be able to wake up from. Jensen heard Jared screams before he broke the windows of the third floor. He heard the pain and desperation in Jared’s voice. Jensen will make sure no Collector ever tries to do this to him.

“Jensen.” Jared calls again, starting to drag himself on the floor towards him, unable to stand up because of the wound on his leg. “Look at me, please. Don’t do this. This is not you.”

Yes, it is. This is him now.

“He saw your face.” Jensen whispers, hatred pumping faster and harder than before when he says it out loud. “He’s going to find you eventually. They will put alarms everywhere on Dallas with a sketch of your face. They are going to hunt you down and I’m not going to let them do that.”

The shifter on the floor just stares at Jensen, eyes wide as he looks at a spot on Jensen’s knuckles. He can feel himself bleeding from the cuts on his hand after he broke that glass. The Collector can see he’s not a human either.

“Why are you helping him?” He whispers, so low that Jensen would have missed it if he wasn’t staring right back at the shifter.

Jensen grips the rifle with both hands.

“Because my place in the Universe will be forever by his side.”

And Jensen will kill anyone who tries to get in the way.

Then, he feels a hand pulling on his clothes  as Jared tries to hold onto him, repeating Jensen’s name over and over. But Jensen is beyond listening to Jared, who keeps on sobbing for Jensen to put the gun down. He says Jensen is not like this. Jared thinks Jensen is still good, that he won’t reach the level of violence humans did just to protect him. But Jensen will. He might not be a human, but he’s not a shifter anymore either.

“Jensen.” Jared cries from the floor next to him, pressing his forehead to his leg and reaching up to try to touch him, like he wants to touch Jensen’s hands, but he can’t because Jensen's too far away to reach him.

Jensen changes his mind, raising the rifle so it’s pointing at the shifter’s head instead. Jared holds tighter onto him, shaking his head against his leg.

“You wouldn't do this, you wouldn't even touch a weapon you hate and I'm scared of. Please don’t take away the Jensen I fell in love with.” Jared whispers and Jensen moves his eyes away from the Collector for the first time since he got there, looking down at Jared, finding the hazel eyes staring back at him. “This is not you. I want my shifter back.”

Jensen looks back at the Collector on the floor, and after two long heartbeats, he puts the rifle down and takes out the tranquilizer weapon he stole from another shifter inside of the Facility and out into his healer gown.

Then, he shoots the shifter in the neck, tranquilizer making him pass out instantly.

-

It's just until they can get back into Jensen’s car and he can reach over to hold Jared’s hand that Jensen feels like he can breathe once again. Jared turns his head on the chair, giving him a smile and bringing his hand up to kiss the inside of Jensen’s wrist. Jensen strokes Jared’s lower lip with his thumb, heart warming up when Jared nuzzles back into the touch, any fear or pain completely gone from his expressions.

Jared’s has a bandage around his leg, under his jeans, the bleeding stopped and wound cleaned with the medical tools Jensen found in the Facility. Other healers work there, curing and keeping the humans they connect to the Facilities healthy, so is no surprise they had what Jensen needed to stitch Jared’s wound, give him something for the pain and possible infection and then cover the big cut on his skin.

But that was after making sure no shifter would go after them. There weren’t as many working in the Facility that night, most healers being called to the same town Jensen had been taken to so they could help all the victims of the car accident. Collectors had also been asked to go help check the perimeter and make sure there weren’t any shifters wandering around lost and confused after they getting head injuries from the big accident. There were three of them still missing when Jensen left.

Jensen used the tranquilizer gun to put out any of the remaining shifters in the building, most of the healers too scared and not knowing how to fight back at all. The Collectors were easily tricked once they saw Jensen dressed like a healer, thinking he was one of the healers who worked there too. There’s one of them they can’t get to, the shifter who Jensen had dodged when they made it to the second floor, getting out of the way just when the Collector tried to jump Jensen to immobilize him, who ended crashing through one of the windows and falling two stores down. Jensen doesn’t let Jared come along when he goes check if he’s still alive, but there’s no pulse when Jensen touches his neck.

With all the rest of them, they find a good way to keep them alive but not give them the chance to describe to the Security Division what happened in there that night and what they saw.

The Facility is designed to keep locked down any human they bring in there, all the connections appropriate for the human anatomy and main connection going directly to the human brain. And all shifters have the exact same qualities to be connected into the VSR, and just like humans would, it’s going to be impossible to bring those shifters back after Jensen makes the direct connection to their brains.

They will be alive and happy in the fake reality they designed, unable to ever tell anyone they saw Jensen and Jared’s faces in there.

And just as expected from shifters, there are no cameras in there. Just like they weren’t in the banned part of the library or any other place where some security could be needed. They trusted healers and Collectors would do a good job and keep the humans healthy. No need for any cameras that could have caught evidence of what went down. Nobody will ever to tell the Security Division what happened.

“I thought you were dead.” Jared whispers, face pressed to Jensen’s hand as they drive back home. Jensen also made sure to stitch his own hand and put a bandage around his knuckles before they left. “They said someone jumped from the second floor, they said it was you…”

Jensen strokes Jared’s cheek softly in return.

“Is that why you had that glass to your neck?”

Jared nods slowly in return and Jensen holds tighter onto Jared, relief that he got there on time washing over him.

“Please don’t ever do that again, Jay.”

“Only if you promise to always stay with me.” Jared smiles against Jensen’s hand, kissing his fingers again. Jensen turns to look at him for a moment and nods, smiling in return.

It’s almost bizarre for him that Jared still loves him even after everything he has done and what Jensen has become. Shifters have no problem loving each other and caring because they are all good to each other, made out of only pure emotions and feelings. But Jensen is not like that anymore, he’s full of all the bad things any shifter would reject. Jensen has experienced greed, jealousy, hate, anger and even the violent need to kill someone.

And yet, Jared still kisses his hands and looks at Jensen like he’s the sun.

Like the Velveteen Rabbit, Jensen became real, because as the book says, love makes you real. Now Jensen understands much more of what he thought was a simple kid’s books. It shows the nature of human love and what it means. There’s a quote he still remembers. ‘Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much.’

Time has passed and Jensen changed. He’s not full of goodness anymore, he’s not pure and perfect like all the other shifters out there anymore. Jensen too grew shabby but Jared loved him just as much.

They keep on driving in silence, exchanging reassuring physical contact every now and then, but they are both pretty tired after what happened. The medicine Jensen gave Jared for the pain had to make him feel a little dizzy, so Jensen lets him doze off on the seat while still holding his hand.

It'ss not until they make it to their street, with Jared waking up and them getting closer to their house, that they both notice that there’s a different car parked where Jensen’s car would usually be. Jensen knows that car.

“Danneel.” He whispers, holding tighter onto Jared’s hand.

She’s leaning on her car, arms crossed over her chest as she stares directly at them when Jensen stops his car some meters away from their house. She’s looking at Jared more than anything. There’s no way to hide him or run for it.

“Jensen, what-” Jared starts, tone nervous, holding onto him.

“Stay in the car, Jay.” Jensen whispers in return, opening the door to get out and walk to the other side of the car, stepping into Danneel’s view and covering Jared from her. She arches one eyebrow, expression serious like he has never seen.

“Get in my car, Jensen.” She announces after a minute, opening the door for the back seat. “And bring that human with you.”

Jensen swallows, looking at Jared over his shoulder. They don’t have the tranquilizer gun with them anymore, they left it back at the Facility and it would be stupid to try to do something there, in the middle of his own neighborhood. He nods in Jared’s direction, making a sign for him to get out of the car. Jared opens the door and limps towards him. He stays behind Jensen and throws Danneel scared glances as Jensen leaves an arm in front of Jared, like he’s shielding him away from her.

“Get in the car the two of you.” Danneel points at them, already at the other side of the car and opening the driver’s door. “Now.”

Jared holds onto the back of his shirt and Jensen nods again, keeping Jared behind him as they walk towards the car and get inside in silence. Jared keeps glancing at the house nervously as they drive away and Jensen knows he’s thinking of Chad and Sandy, yet it doesn’t seem like Danneel knew about them being in there too. The house looked normal, not like someone had broken in to take Jared’s friends away.

Danneel drives in silence, looking at the through the rearview mirror every now and then. Jared stays pressed to Jensen’s side while Jensen squeezes his hand in return. He turns his head towards Jared, lips ghosting close to Jared’s ear as he assures him that nothing bad will happen.

Whatever goes down, he won’t let anything bad happen to Jared, and he won’t let him get hurt again.

“I’m not letting they do anything to you.” Jensen repeats, louder this time so Danneel can hear him, implying that things will go down if anyone tries to do anything to Jared. She glares at him through the rearview mirror once again but doesn’t say anything in return.

Jensen is expecting her to drive her to her own supervisor, who will probably decide what to do with them now that Danneel knows one of the shifters she has been an accommodator for has been helping a human. Maybe one of the first shifters who colonized earth, who will take action on Jensen’s behavior. He’s already planning how they can possibly escape with Jared’s leg injury and what they can do from there. Perhaps he could create a distraction for Jared to run away and save himself. Jared’s not going back to a Facility.

And after what feels like forever, Danneel turns right and drives into the backyard of a big white house. It has three stores and it's big enough for it to have many shifters living in there. Jensen tenses up at the idea of dealing with more than a couple of them. The house is not in a neighborhood like Jensen’s, away from any other residencies and surrounded by what looks like a small forest at one side.

Danneel gets out of the car and tells them to follow her and not try anything stupid. Jensen’s doesn’t let go of Jared’s hand as they make it out of the car, still shielding him by keeping Jared behind him. Jensen looks around, expecting to see Collectors coming for them at any minute, yet he can barely hear any noise around them.

It’s stressing him out to not know where she’s taking them.

“Where are we, Danneel?” He snaps at last, holding tighter onto Jared’s hand as they stop in front of what looks like a back door.

She turns her head to look at Jensen over her shoulder and then she flashes him a small smile.

“My house, of course.”

She unlocks the door with a set of keys and then pushes it open, cleaning her heels on a rug on the floor before walking in and repeating for Jared and Jensen to follow her inside. Jensen frownS, confused, as he exchanges a quick look with Jared and helps him walk into the house too.

“I’m home!” Danneel calls after she closes the door behind them, stepping out of her heels and then pointing at the two of them. “Take your shoes off, please. She has this thing about keeping the kitchen floor spotless. You can leave them oN the rug.”

Jensen and Jared exchange another look but do as they are told, stepping out their shoes and following Danneel into the living room, looking around as they walk. It does look like it’s her house, decorated with paintings and flowers. It even smells like someone just burned a scented candle. It smells like cinnamon. The house is as huge as it looked on the outside, everything spotless and perfectly organized. The living room has a fireplace and big white couches in front of them. There are bookshelves everywhere too, filling up the walls close the fireplace and at each side of  TV screen at the other side of the room.

Jensen is about to ask Danneel why she brought them there when they hear steps running downstairs, making Jensen tense up and shield Jared like before.

A girl appears at the end of the stairs a couple seconds later, black hair up in a ponytail and dressed in what looks like blue pajama pants and a hoodie.

“Danny, you took forever!” The girls complains, looking down at the stairs as she keeps coming down. “I told you it was movie night and I already chose what we’re watching for tonight. I made popcorn but it's probably cold already so-”

She stops once she looks up, finding Jared and Jensen standing next to Danneel. Her eyes widen and she tenses up, looking like she’s about to run back upstairs, smile disappearing from her face.

“No, no!” Danneel calls when the girl steps back, walking the space in between them and grabbing her by one of her arms. Then, Danneel puts her arms around the shorter girl to give her a brief hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Genevieve, don’t get scared, it’s alright.”

Leaving one arm over the girl's shoulders, she turns around and points at Jared with one hand. Jensen covers him again but all Danneel does is smile in return.

“He’s a human too.”

Jensen makes an instant double take as he hears Jared gasp by his side, both of them catching what that “too” implies.

“W-What about the other one?” Genevieve mumbles, eyeing Jensen but mostly looking at Jared, looking as surprised as they are.

“No, Jensen is like me.” Danneel leans in, pressing a kiss to Gen’s cheek this time. “He’s a shifter who also takes great affection for humans.” Her smile grows and she winks at Jensen. “Just like I do with you, Gen.”

As it turns out, this is not what Jensen was expecting, and they clearly need to sit down in Danneel’s living room to talk about it. She’s not taking them to her superior, she’s not even going to call the Security Division or any of the options Jensen imagined.

It happens that Genevieve has been living with Danneel for a long time, even before Jared and Jensen ever met. Genevieve used to live in that house with her family before shifters took over. One night Genevieve tried to sneak back in the house after previously escaping, wanting to find anything from her family after spending a long time running away. She was alone and desperate to find something to remind her of home and give her some hope. That’s when Danneel caught her.

And just like Jared did, Genevieve eventually decided to stay too.

“What can I say?” Danneel shrugs as she takes a sip of her tea, all four of them sitting in her living room, hearing the story of her and Genevieve met. “I too fell for my own human.”

She smiles fondly at Genevieve, who turns a little pink and smiles in return. Jensen can see himself in that smile, in the way Danneel looks at Genevieve, because that’s exactly how he looks at Jared.

“Jensen.” Jared whispers by his side, nudging him. Jensen leans closer to hear him one arm around his shoulders as they sit on one of the couches. “You think she will let me call home? Tell Chad and Sandy everything is alright?”

“Who are Chad and Sandy?” Danneel asks loudly, obviously hearing Jared’s whisper, who takes a sharp breath and presses closer to Jensen again.

“Don’t do that.” Jensen shakes his head at Danneel, patting Jared’s hand to calm him down. “They are-well, there are another two humans staying at my house. They are Jared’s friends.”

Danneel actually looks at Jensen with her mouth hanging open, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Three humans, Jensen? Seriously?” She repeats, both amused and surprised. “Who would have thought from such a perfect little healer.” She clicks her tongue looking back at Jared. “The phone is right there, honey. Is not like the one Jensen has at home so let Gen explain how to use it.”

Jensen and Danneel move to the kitchen while they leave Jared and Genevieve in the living room, with Jared feeling happy to be able to hear Chad pick up the phone and Genevieve more than excited to know there are more humans still out there that she might be able to meet.

As Jensen explains what happened in the Facility, Danneel doesn’t approve of what he did and the fact that Jensen almost killed someone and caused a Collector’s death-indirectly, but still-yet she understands the reasons why he did it. She would do anything to protect Genevieve too. She also says she can add Jared to the system and make it appear like he’s a shifter who recently moved in to live on Earth. That way he doesn’t have to hide all the time. As an accommodator, she has access to all those files and she already did the process with Genevieve and it worked perfectly. The girl is still scared to go out sometimes and doesn’t like to talk to other shifters much, but that way it’s secured that no Collectors will ever take her away.

And now Danneel can do that with Jared too. They won’t ever have to worry about Jared being taken away. Jensen feels relief shower all over his body at the good news. He can’t wait to tell Jared the good news.

“You think this is happening to other shifters?” Danneel hums, standing in front of the kitchen counter as she makes another cup of tea. “At first, I thought it was just me with Genevieve, but then I started to notice the way you changed whenever I visited. It reminded me of the way I changed too.” Danneel drums her nails on the counter distractedly. “You were finally starting to smile for real. You wouldn’t only care about your job anymore and you would behave strange when I was around, like you were hiding something.”

Jensen thought he had been doing a great job pretending everything was normal, but it doesn’t seem that way. At least he’s grateful only Danneel seemed to notice.

“And then, of course, the fact that today I called Alona again tonight after trying to locate you all day and she told me a friend went looking for you at the Hospital.”

Jensen turns to look at her, arching an eyebrow. “How is the last one relevant at all?”

“Please, Jensen. You kept naming your two friends to get me off your back about not being as social whenever I visited.” She rolls her eyes. “If you had another shifter friend apart from Tom and Mike, you would have made sure to mention it months ago.”

Jensen huffs, hiding a laugh as he shakes his head.

“I don’t know if there are more shifters like us and honestly? I don’t care either.”

All he cares for is Jared. What all the other shifters do is on them. Jensen just cares for his human.

“They are something special, aren’t they?” Danneel asks as they watch Jared and Genevieve talk in the living room. “Jared must be for sure just by the way you look at him.”

Jared chooses that moment to turn around and look towards the kitchen, smiling big and happy at Jensen when they eyes meet in between the rooms.

“Yes, he is.” Jensen answers, smiling back and feeling the smile reach every part of his human body.

Now he knows that sometimes everything beautiful is far away, but it also has its exceptions. That’s what Jensen thinks later that night as they leave Danneel’s house, holding Jared’s hand and watching him look up at the sky.

Jared leans his head on Jensen’s shoulder as they walk slowly towards Jensen’s car and Jensen presses a light kiss to Jared’s soft lips. Jared smiles in return and then kisses him back. It makes Jensen’s heart flutter.

Sometimes everything beautiful is far away, and some others, it’s right across from you. Jensen holds tighter onto Jared’s hand as they walk side by side into the starry night.

And when you find it, nothing else matters in the Universe.

THE END

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