Spiked! Part 9
Title: Spiked! The VolleyVerse Part 9
Author: texankate
Pairings/Characters: J-squared, Chris/Steve, Usual Suspects OFCs, OMCs.
Rating: Up to NC17 in places
Disclaimer: If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream,. In other words: complete and utter fiction. I own nothing but my twisted and sordid little brain. I even had to borrow my disclaimer.
Warning: Angst, drama, character death. Flagrant disregard of USVA reality.
Summary: When Jensen meets Mac's new volleyball coach, he falls head over heels in lust. Can they overcome misunderstanding and tragedy and find their way to each other?
There were no signs, no omens. It was just a Tuesday, and nothing more exciting than a Simpsons re-run was going on. But one minute Mac was asleep, and the next her eyes were slowly opening. Her brows were knit in confusion, at least until she saw Jensen.
"Jen," she croaked.
Jensen lurched up out of his chair and wrapped his arms around Mac. He hugged her as tight as he dared, then reached over to call a nurse. Mac kept trying to talk, but her voice was dry and reedy from disuse.
When the doctor finished his preliminary exam, one of the nurses brought a cup of ice chips to help soothe Mac's throat. Finally, she was able to speak.
"Jen, what happened?" she asked.
Jensen brushed a lock of hair back from her face. "Honey, there was an accident on the way back from the tournament. A semi jack-knifed in front of Dad and he couldn't stop in time."
"Where are Momma and Daddy?" Mac asked, tears welling up in her eyes. She struggled to sit up. "Where are they?"
"Honey, please, you have to lie back," Jensen said, grabbing her shoulders gently. She tried to fight back, but she was still too weak. "Mom and Dad didn't make it, honey. And if you hadn't been wearing your seatbelt…" Jensen broke into tears, himself.
It was all starting to really hit home. His mom and dad were gone. No more family dinners with Mom trying to get them all to behave. No more lazy summer barbecues. No more Christmas morning with all of them together, because even if Josh and Jensen had their own apartments, not fifteen minutes away, it just wasn't Christmas if they didn't all wake their parents up by jumping on their bed at six o'clock in the morning, still in their new Christmas flannel pj's that their mother insisted on buying every year.
Jensen had never really thought about the word orphan. None of his friends had lost their families, so he only really heard it in the context of characters in a Dickens novel. But that was what they were now, orphans.
Mac's thin shoulders trembled as she sobbed her grief. "It's my fault," she cried. "I had to play in that stupid tournament."
Her self-recrimination broke Jensen's heart. "Honey, none of this was your fault," he said. "It wasn't your fault for wanting to play; it wasn't Dad's fault for not being able to stop in time. Sometimes things just happen. I'm just thankful that you're okay. Don't know what Josh and I would do without you, kiddo."
"Where's Josh?" she asked.
"He's at work," Jensen said. "We've been trading off days and nights to make sure that someone was always here with you. Even Steve and Chris have been stopping by."
"Can you call him?" Mac asked. "Please?"
"Sure thing, honey. It's probably the first thing I should have done," Jensen said, mentally kicking himself. Josh would probably kill him for not calling.
He stepped out into the lobby and made a couple of calls. First to Josh, and then to his Aunt Myra. Then he called Chris and Steve, and then Jeff, who could contact the rest of the team.
The doctor came in to go over Mac's charts and vitals, and waited until Josh arrived to sit them all down and discuss what would happen next.
"Well, first things first, I'm very happy to see you awake, young lady," Doctor Phillips said. "You've had us all worried."
"Sorry," Mac mumbled.
"Oh, don't be. You took the time you needed to heal up a bit. We're just an impatient bunch of old fools around here," he said with a wink. "Now let's take a look at your charts."
He flipped back and forth, and then held a couple of x-rays up to a light box in the corner of the room.
"We'll need to get a new set of x-rays, and some more blood work just to make sure there are no nasty lingering infections. And I'd like to keep you in for a couple more days just to make sure that head injury is going to be okay. But you should be home by the weekend," he said.
Josh and Jensen sighed in relief. Mac looked hesitant, however. At first, Jensen didn't understand, but then he thought about actually going back to their house, full of reminders of their parents, and he could see why she was feeling a little trepidation.
The rest of the week flew by. Family came by to visit, and the brothers had to run interference for Mac, who was sick and tired of being hugged and coddled by people she didn't really know. She showed a little more enthusiasm when Chris and Steve showed up, but that might have had something to do with the chocolate they smuggled in for her.
But what really worried Jensen was how she acted when anyone from her team showed up. First, she tried to fake sleep. Everyone understood that she needed to rest, and they quietly left without waking her up. But when she wasn't sleeping, or if she was caught unawares, she just clammed up and didn't say a word. The parents looked pretty sympathetic, but her friends were downright hurt and confused. Jensen tried to get her to open up, but she was getting pretty good at shutting him out, too.
The coaches showed up on Thursday evening. Jared was carrying a huge stuffed bear, and Coach McCoy had a huge bouquet of balloons. Jensen and Mac were watching an episode of Ugly Betty when they arrived, so she couldn't just burrow down and pretend to sleep.
"Good to see you awake, Mac," Jared said, grinning from ear to ear as he walked into the room.
"It sure is," Coach McCoy said, following behind.
"Thanks for dropping by," Jensen said, extending a hand. Jared shook his hand, but Coach McCoy pulled him in for a hug. It was unexpected and slightly uncomfortable. At least for him it was. She had no idea he was in lust with her boyfriend.
"Hey," Mac mumbled, turning her attention back to the TV. Jared gave Jensen a quizzical look, but all Jensen could do was shrug.
"I know it's going to be a while before you're up and running around again, but I want you to know that we can't wait to have you back," Jared said, sitting down next to Mac's bed. "As soon as the docs give you the go-ahead, we can start getting you back in shape for next season."
Jensen thought he was maybe jumping the gun, but he appreciated the thought. But instead of cheering Mac up, she just turned away from him, onto her side.
"I'm not playing next season," Mac said. "I'm not playing ever again. If I hadn't been playing in that stupid tournament, they'd still be alive."
Jared and Coach McCoy were taken aback. Jensen just closed his eyes and sighed. He'd hoped she'd gotten past that. It really was no one's fault. The trucker hadn't been driving recklessly; he'd just had a mechanical failure. Alan Ackles hadn't been driving recklessly; he just didn't have Superman's reflexes. And it most certainly wasn't Mac's fault. He didn't know if he'd be able to get her to see that, though.
"Mac, honey, I told you it wasn't your fault," Jensen said, reaching out to touch her shoulder. She wrenched away with a small whimper of pain, and Jensen felt like an absolute bastard.
"Mac, even if you don't want to play anymore, we still want to see you," Coach McCoy said, kneeling down in front of Mac. The girl couldn't turn the other way, because then she'd be staring right at Jared. "Honey, we care about you whether you play volleyball or not. We're friends first, right?"
"I don't care. Please just go away," Mac said, closing her eyes tight.
Jared and Coach McCoy stood. Jensen tried to apologize, but they waved him off.
"We're going Mac," Jared said. "But I'm leaving your present. If I can't be here to keep an eye on you, he'll have to do."
Jensen thought he saw tears escaping from her eyes, but he wasn't sure. He walked outside with the two other adults.
"I’m sorry about that," Jensen said. "She said something after she woke up about it being her fault, but I thought she'd gotten past that."
"Dude, don't worry about us," Jared said, waving it off. "How are you and your brother doing?"
Jensen sighed. "We're managing. Josh is taking care of the will and stuff. As soon as Mac is up for it, we'll have the memorial service. We haven't even really discussed who she'll live with, or where they'll live. She cringes every time anyone mentions going back home, so I don't know if she'll even want to live there, and, well, we're pretty much one big mess. Oh God, I'm sorry. You didn't need to hear all of that."
"Sounded like you needed to say it, though," Jared said, resting a comforting hand on Jensen's shoulder. "Don't forget that you have to look after yourselves, too. Mac's not the only one who's lost someone."
"Thanks. But, yeah, we may have lost someone, but it's worse for her. We at least had lives away from the family. Other people we can lean on. She just has us," Jensen said, miserably.
"She doesn't just have you," Coach McCoy said. "She has all of us too. You all do. It may just take her a while to realize it."
Jensen smiled gratefully. It was going to be really hard to dislike her if she kept being so nice. She gave him another hug, and then Jared grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a hug as well. It should have felt awkward, but it just felt good. Jensen decided not to feel guilty, and just take the comfort.
"Let us know if you need anything. And tell Mac we haven't given up on her. She might never play another minute of volleyball, but that doesn't mean we don't care about her," Jared said.
Jensen nodded and watched them retreat down the hall to the elevators. He should probably have gone straight back inside, but he sank down against the wall and cried, just a little, for the life that had been taken away from them all.
The pain and the loss were still fresh by the time they got around to holding the memorial service. The Ackles siblings sat in the front row of the church while the preacher rambled through a long sermon on the rewards of a faithful life. Jensen tried not to feel like the man was staring at him with disapproval, but since he'd come out he'd never felt really welcome at the church.
All of his parents' friends were there, as well as his, Josh, and Mac's friends. The team sat together in the back of the church, with their parents and the coaches. Mac didn't even look back once.
Two days after leaving the hospital and returning to the house, Jensen had found Mac ripping down the volleyball posters in her room. He found her uniform in the trash, and carefully removed it and packed it away. Whenever he or Josh tried to bring it up, she grabbed her crutches and hobbled from the room.
Since there was no graveside service, they had their receiving line at the church, shaking hands with all of the mourners. Mac still couldn't be on her feet for long, so she was able to avoid a good bit of it. Jensen was waiting for a scene when her team came by, but she managed to shake hands and be as polite as could be expected, if a little distant. Jensen got hugs from the two coaches, as well as Jeff and his wife Samantha.
Afterwards, the climbed into Josh's SUV, and escaped the crowds. It was time to go home and figure out the rest of their lives.
Chapter 10